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| Author |
 Topic  |
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Momodou
Denmark
11511 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Jun 2021 : 12:49:49
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GAMBIA-L Digest 45
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) Re: GAMBIA'S LAND AND PEOPLE
by BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
2) [Fwd: [Fwd: "GENDER APARTHEID" IN A ZAMBIA HOTEL]]
by BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
3) FOOD FOR THOUGHT
by BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
4) SOLAR ENERGY FOR WHOM?!
by BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
5) Forwarded: Three job openings
by "Malanding S. Jaiteh" <msjaiteh@mtu.edu>
6) Sources of 2nd hand computers
by Andy Lyons <alyons@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu>
7) Re: THE FARAFENNI INCIDENT
by momodou.camara@post3.tele.dk (Camara, Momodou)
8) New member
by "Ba-Musa Ceesay" <Ba-Musa.Ceesay@Oslo.Norad.telemax.no>
9) BURKINA FASO-HUMAN RIGHTS
by momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
10) Forwarded posting of Musa Jawara
by "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
11) Re: Miss WORLD Controversy
by Francis Njie <francis_njie@il.us.swissbank.com>
12) Re: New member
by BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
13) Re: Miss WORLD Controversy
by BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
14) Hello, users of Gambia-L
by J?rn Grotnes <jgr@sni.no>
15) Re: Miss WORLD Controversy
by Bayard Lyons <blyons@aed.aed.org>
16) UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Joins War Against Bribery and Corruption
by momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
17) Paging in The Gambia?
by Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
18) Unsubscribe me
by sarian@osmosys.incog.com (Sarian Loum)
19) Re: Miss WORLD Controversy
by Francis Njie <francis_njie@il.us.swissbank.com>
20)
by Ndey Drammeh <NDRAMME@wpo.it.luc.edu>
21) Re: Denying some people the right to seek medical care
abroad
by Ndey Drammeh <NDRAMME@wpo.it.luc.edu>
22) How to tell an African from an African !!!
by saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
23) Re: Hello, users of Gambia-L
by BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
24) Re: Denying some people the right to seek medical care abroad
by TSaidy1050@aol.com
25) Re: Unsubscribe me
by Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
26) New member
by Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
27) Re: Miss WORLD Controversy
by BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
28) SV: Hello, users of Gambia-L
by "Jobarteh, Momodou" <Momodou.Jobarteh@hordaland.vegvesen.no>
29) Gambia-l Informal meeting in The Gambia
by Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
30) Re: Gambia-l Informal meeting in The Gambia
by fceesay@brynmawr.edu (Waterloolu)
31) Forwarded message of Sarian Loum
by "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
32) RWANDA-UN: Documents Show Boutros-Ghali Knew of 1994 Massacre (fwd)
by saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
33) Gene Mutations May Once Have Warded Off Diseases
by saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
34) Very Smart Fruit Flies Yield Clues to the Molecular Basis of Memory
by saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
35) Perplexing questions ?????
by saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
36) Re: Gambia-l Informal meeting in The Gambia
by SARJOB@aol.com
37) Michael Jordan's fortunes :- Breakdown !!!
by saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
38) Re: Hello, users of Gambia-L
by SARJOB@aol.com
39) Re: UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Joins War Against Bribery andCorruption
by momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
40) Gambia-l Informal Meeting
by Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
41) Re: US TRAVEL ADVICE ON THE GAMBIA
by TSaidy1050@aol.com
42) 96L03045.html
by Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
43) Re: US TRAVEL ADVICE ON THE GAMBIA
by BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
44) The perfect holiday gift. NOT!!!!!!
by saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
45) THE PERFECT GIFT(FLOP)!!
by BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
46) Re: Gambia-l Informal Meeting
by Isatou B Kaira <kaiisa@hs.nki.no>
47) PEACE ...
by Andrea Klumpp <klumpp@kar.dec.com>
48) Re: UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Joins War Against Bribery andCorruption
by Francis Njie <francis_njie@il.us.swissbank.com>
49) Hey good looking
by "SAL BARRY" <SBARRY@osage.astate.edu>
50)
by Gabriel Ndow <gndow@spelman.edu>
51)
by Gabriel Ndow <gndow@spelman.edu>
52) Re: Denying some people the right to seek medical care
abroad -Reply
by Ndey Drammeh <NDRAMME@wpo.it.luc.edu>
53) Hey good looking -Reply
by Yaikah Jeng <YJENG@PHNET.SPH.JHU.EDU>
54) Re: Hey good looking -Reply
by Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
55) 96L06008.html
by Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
56) forwarding new member intro
by ABDOU <at137@columbia.edu>
57) Re: Hey good looking -Reply -Reply
by Yaikah Jeng <YJENG@PHNET.SPH.JHU.EDU>
58) Re: Hey good looking -Reply
by "SAL BARRY" <SBARRY@osage.astate.edu>
59) Welcoming a new member!!
by BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
60) US makes exchange of info a crime
by momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
61) AFRICA-CHINA: Taiwan Still Wins Friends Through DollarDiplomacy
by momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
62) Re: 96L06008.html
by Haddijatou Kah <jkah@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu>
63) They're Too Good; That's Not Fair !!
by saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
64) Re: New Members
by harr njai <hfn194@soton.ac.uk>
65) Four Africans Join Race For Top U.N. Job
by mmjeng@image.dk (Matarr M. Jeng.)
66) house-keeping
by ABDOU <at137@columbia.edu>
67) What She really means !!!!
by saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
68) Women's Hazardous Materials Sheet
by saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 01 Dec 1995 16:06:33 +0300
From: BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
To: GAMBIA-L@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: GAMBIA'S LAND AND PEOPLE
Message-ID: <30BEFDD8.7A8@QATAR.NET.QA>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH forwarded:-
>=20
> EXCERTPS FROM GAMBIA'S WEB PAGE HISTORY SECTION(Regards Basss!!)
>=20
> -- 3. LAND AND PEOPLE
>=20
> Named after The River Gambia which flows
> through its length from East to West for three hundred
> miles, The Gambia .a relatively small country in West
> Africa. Its population of roughly one and half million lives
> within a narrow belt extending from either side of The
> River Gambia.
> The principal ethnic groups are the Wollofs and
> the Mandinkas the former living mainly in the capital city
> of Banjul, while the latter constitute the single largest
> tribal unit of The Gambia. These ethnic groups are reminiscent of the
> former Empire of the Wollofs in the Senegambian Region and the famous
> Mandingo Empire of Mali and Songhai.In addition there are the
> light-skinned and straight-haired Fulas and the trading Sarahuleys.
> Another group, the Akus or Creoles, are an important segment of the
> local elite; there are
> some Mauritanians, Morrocans and Lebanese, mostly traders and
> shopkeepers. The
> Gambians are usually tall, dark and sturdy people with fine features an=
d
> an easy going
> charm. Each ethnic group speaks its own language, but English is
> commonly spoken as well
> as being the official language of the country. There not only is harmon=
y
> between the different
> groups, but a fusion is taking place by cultural interaction and
> intermarriage, to an extent that
> the Gambia can be called a melting pot of West African ethnic groups
> where a modern
> composite African is being evolved.
> The population is predominantly Muslim with more than 90% followin=
g
> Islam. The remaining 10% are mostly Christians of different
> denominations including Anglicans,
> Methodists, and Roman Catholics. Most of the people are strict in their
> Religious practices
> and the devout Muslims can be seen praying not only in Mosques but also
> in other public
> places at all prayer times of the day. There is, however, no fanaticism
> and amity prevails
> between religious and ethnic groups.
>=20
> Top of Page
>=20
> 4. The River
>=20
> A major attraction for the visitor to The Gambia, this great West
> African River rises in
> the Futa Jallon highlands nearly a thousand river miles away in the
> Republic of Guinea. It
> crosses Eastern Senegal before entering Gambian territory some 300 mile=
s
> (480 Kilometers)
> inland. In The Gambia, The River is the dominating features and provide=
s
> both a useful
> means of transportation and irrigation as well as a rich ground for
> fishing, boating and sailing.
> The River Gambia is several miles wide at its mouth near Cape St.
> Mary and has a
> bar with a depth of 27 feet (8. 1 Meters) . It narrows to three miles
> (4.8 Kilometers) at
> Banjul where the ferry to Barra operates. Ocean-going vessels up to
> about 3,000 gross
> registered (241 Kilometers) to Kuntaur. The River is also navigable to
> steamers for 140
> miles (225 Kilometers) farther upstream.
> For the first 80 Miles (129 kilometers) inland from Banjul, The
> River Gambia is
> fringed with mangrove-covered banks, which give way to red ironstone
> cliffs crowned with a
> tangle of green vegetation. Farther up River, the ironstone cliffs give
> way to banks of waving
> grass and parklands. The whole River and the numerous creeks (locally
> known as 'Bolons')
> which join it, are fascinating to the bird lover and the student of
> nature: Hippopotami,
> Crocodiles and Dog-faced baboons are often seen.
> In the past, The River's
> fame lay in the fact that, for
> sailing vessels, it
> was navigable at least as far a=
s
> the
> country's eastern boundary; It
> is one of
> the finest waterways in West
> Africa.
> More recently, it has become th=
e
> target
> for government development plan=
s
> including an extension to the
> Port of
> Banjul. Fisheries development, Hydrological Surveys, a rice development
> project and even a
> feasibility survey for a bridge-barrage building program at the
> Trans-Gambia Ferry crossing
> near Farafenni. The Bridge-Barrage Project is to be a joint venture by
> the Senegalese and
> Gambian Governments.
> In addition to Ferries, ships and cutters loaded with groundnuts,
> the country's main
> export crop, can be seen plying up and down the River, and dugout canoe=
s
> used by
> fishermen are also a common sight, Their existence-,. however, does not
> diminish the serene,
> tranquil beauty of the Great River flowing majestically westward into
> the Atlantic Ocean.
> Like their forerunners, the men-of-war and the slave ships which fought
> battles and went
> this way in years, these river craft only add to the Gambia's colourful
> beauty.
>=20
> Top of Page
>=20
> 5 CLIMATE
>=20
> The Gambia is generally recognized as having perhaps the most
> agreeable climate in
> West Africa. The weather is subtropical with distinct dry (7 Months) an=
d
> Rainy seasons.
> There is a dry wind called the Harmattan which blows during the dr=
y
> season. The
> Harmattan Sahara winds give the Gambia a uniquely pleasant winter,
> completely rainless and
> blessed with daily sunshine. From November to May, the temperature
> varies between 70oF
> (21oC) and 80oF (27oC) and the relative humidity stays between 30% and
> 60%. Summer
> temperatures range between 80oF (27oC) and 90oF (32oC) and the relative
> humidity is
> high. The rains begin in June and continue to October, conceding with
> the warmer weather.
> Inland, the cool season is shorter, and by the day high temperatures ar=
e
> encountered
> between March and June. Generally, there is considerable cooling off in
> the evening. Rainfall
> in most parts of the country does not exceed 40 inches (1,016
> Millimeters) and sunny
> periods occur on most days even in the rainy season.
> SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
--=20
SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 01 Dec 1995 16:15:27 +0300
From: BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: [Fwd: [Fwd: "GENDER APARTHEID" IN A ZAMBIA HOTEL]]
Message-ID: <30BEFFEF.4FCB@QATAR.NET.QA>
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> Zambia-Sexism
>=20
> Zambian Women Protest Against "Sexist" Hotel
>=20
> >From Mildred Mulenga; PANA Staff Correspondent
>=20
> LUSAKA, Zambia - Women delegates attending a sub-regional meeting here
> on
> Saturday joined hundreds of their colleagues protesting against sexist
> practices at the
> "Holiday Inn Garden Court", one of Zambia's leading hotels.
>=20
> The demonstrators accused the inn of discriminating women who went to
> the hotel when
> unaccompanied by men.
>=20
> The militant women stopped some of vehicles and advised passengers to
> stay away from the
> hotel, arguing that it had breached the Zambian constitution, which
> recognises the 1979
> United Nations convention on the elimination of all forms of
> discrimination against women.
>=20
> The Zambian women were supported in their demonstration by their
> colleagues from
> Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and
> Zimbabwe, who are
> currently attending the African Women's Development and Communication
> Network
> (Femnet) conference.
>=20
> Saturday's demonstration was inspired by an incident which occured earl=
y
> this month when
> the winner of the 1994 Miss Zambia beauty contest, Elizabeth Mwanza, wh=
o
> was prevented
> from entering the hotel because she was not in company of a man.
>=20
> Under the guise of preventing prostitution, the inn's management has pu=
t
> up a policy that
> prevents women from patronising their hotel if not accompanied by men.
>=20
> But Mwanza told PANA that she intends to institute legal actions agains=
t
> the hotel because it
> has been denying women their rights of freedom and movement.
>=20
> "The fact is you will still find prostitutes in the hotel and the hotel
> knows how those prostitutes
> find their way in the rooms. Why should it only be women to be refused
> to enter the hotel
> and not men as well. what criteria does the hotel use to distinguish wh=
o
> is a prostitute and
> who is not?," Mwanza questioned.
>=20
> Stlankie Chipeya, South Africa's women's national coalition project
> manager who is
> attending the Femnet conference, expressed her "disgust" at the hotel
> for promoting gender
> apartheid.
>=20
> " I was really shocked to note that Holiday Inn Hotel here in Zambia
> refuses women who are
> unaccompanied to enter the hotel. Why should apartheid be practised
> against women? We
> have Holiday Inns in South Africa which don't deny entrance to women.
> How do they know
> this is a prostitute, is it written on their heads, ?" wondered Chipeya.
>=20
> Some of the demonstrators at the hotel carried placards, including some
> which read :
> "Holiday Inn Garden of Adam," "Expose Holiday Inn sexism Horrors,"
> "Holiday Inn
> Breaches Constitution" and "Keep Out Sexist Hotels."
>=20
> In 1992, a Zambian woman activist, Sara Longwe, filed and won her case
> in the Lusaka high
> court against Hotel Intercontinental, which had barred her from enterin=
g
> a hotel room in the
> company of her white husband.
>=20
> --
> SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
Poetry
Reading
Excerpt from "Song of
Ocol"=20
by Okot p'Bitek=20
(Heinemann African
Writers Series)=20
You woman from
Kikuyuland=20
Let that burden slide,=20
Fall from your back=20
You are no mere=20
Donkey cart;=20
Cut that mukwa cord=20
Cutting a valley in your
head,=20
Burn the kyondo sacks=20
That bow you down=20
To see only my dusty
boots,=20
Lift up your head=20
Walk erect=20
My love,=20
Let me see=20
Your beautiful eyes,=20
Let me caress=20
Your sultry neck,=20
Let me kiss your
dimples ...=20
Shut up you=20
Bush poet from Kiambu=20
And you from Nyeri,=20
Cease insulting my wife=20
With your stupid song=20
My girl is not=20
A camel
--=20
SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
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Message-ID: <30BEA661.5BBE@QATAR.NET.QA>
Date: Fri, 01 Dec 1995 09:54:26 +0300
From: BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
Reply-To: KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA
Organization: ISLAMIC INSTITUTE FOR TECH. TRAINING
X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win95; I)
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To: kolls567@qatar.net.qa
Subject: [Fwd: "GENDER APARTHEID" IN A ZAMBIA HOTEL]
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BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH wrote:
>=20
> Zambia-Sexism
>=20
> Zambian Women Protest Against "Sexist" Hotel
>=20
> >From Mildred Mulenga; PANA Staff Correspondent
>=20
> LUSAKA, Zambia - Women delegates attending a sub-regional meeting here
> on
> Saturday joined hundreds of their colleagues protesting against sexist
> practices at the
> "Holiday Inn Garden Court", one of Zambia's leading hotels.
>=20
> The demonstrators accused the inn of discriminating women who went to
> the hotel when
> unaccompanied by men.
>=20
> The militant women stopped some of vehicles and advised passengers to
> stay away from the
> hotel, arguing that it had breached the Zambian constitution, which
> recognises the 1979
> United Nations convention on the elimination of all forms of
> discrimination against women.
>=20
> The Zambian women were supported in their demonstration by their
> colleagues from
> Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and
> Zimbabwe, who are
> currently attending the African Women's Development and Communication
> Network
> (Femnet) conference.
>=20
> Saturday's demonstration was inspired by an incident which occured earl=
y
> this month when
> the winner of the 1994 Miss Zambia beauty contest, Elizabeth Mwanza, wh=
o
> was prevented
> from entering the hotel because she was not in company of a man.
>=20
> Under the guise of preventing prostitution, the inn's management has pu=
t
> up a policy that
> prevents women from patronising their hotel if not accompanied by men.
>=20
> But Mwanza told PANA that she intends to institute legal actions agains=
t
> the hotel because it
> has been denying women their rights of freedom and movement.
>=20
> "The fact is you will still find prostitutes in the hotel and the hotel
> knows how those prostitutes
> find their way in the rooms. Why should it only be women to be refused
> to enter the hotel
> and not men as well. what criteria does the hotel use to distinguish wh=
o
> is a prostitute and
> who is not?," Mwanza questioned.
>=20
> Stlankie Chipeya, South Africa's women's national coalition project
> manager who is
> attending the Femnet conference, expressed her "disgust" at the hotel
> for promoting gender
> apartheid.
>=20
> " I was really shocked to note that Holiday Inn Hotel here in Zambia
> refuses women who are
> unaccompanied to enter the hotel. Why should apartheid be practised
> against women? We
> have Holiday Inns in South Africa which don't deny entrance to women.
> How do they know
> this is a prostitute, is it written on their heads, ?" wondered Chipeya.
>=20
> Some of the demonstrators at the hotel carried placards, including some
> which read :
> "Holiday Inn Garden of Adam," "Expose Holiday Inn sexism Horrors,"
> "Holiday Inn
> Breaches Constitution" and "Keep Out Sexist Hotels."
>=20
> In 1992, a Zambian woman activist, Sara Longwe, filed and won her case
> in the Lusaka high
> court against Hotel Intercontinental, which had barred her from enterin=
g
> a hotel room in the
> company of her white husband.
>=20
> --
> SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
Poetry
Reading
Excerpt from "Song of
Ocol"=20
by Okot p'Bitek=20
(Heinemann African
Writers Series)=20
You woman from
Kikuyuland=20
Let that burden slide,=20
Fall from your back=20
You are no mere=20
Donkey cart;=20
Cut that mukwa cord=20
Cutting a valley in your
head,=20
Burn the kyondo sacks=20
That bow you down=20
To see only my dusty
boots,=20
Lift up your head=20
Walk erect=20
My love,=20
Let me see=20
Your beautiful eyes,=20
Let me caress=20
Your sultry neck,=20
Let me kiss your
dimples ...=20
Shut up you=20
Bush poet from Kiambu=20
And you from Nyeri,=20
Cease insulting my wife=20
With your stupid song=20
My girl is not=20
A camel;=20
=20
The Women's Forum has undergone
reconstruction.
Regular users should change their
bookmarks.=20
Please click below to enter the women's
forum.
=20
--=20
SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
--------------93D31DD5BEC--
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 01 Dec 1995 20:49:47 +0300
From: BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
To: GAMBIA-L@U.WASHINGTON.EDU
Subject: FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Message-ID: <30BF403B.18F3@QATAR.NET.QA>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
-- FOOD FOR THOUGHT
>From 13-17 November 1996 the World Food Summit of the UN's Food and Agri=
culture
Organization will take place in Rome. Its objective is to achieve
"universal
food security" by the year 2010 and to eradicate hunger and
malnutrition. Given
the fact that some 800 million people suffer from hunger, this is a
laudable
goal.
To achieve this goal, however, the new policy promoted by the World
Trade
Organization (WTO) and followed by the FAO is the complete
commercialization
and industrialization of all agricultural and food production, the
genetic
manipulation of food and the further liberalization and globalization of
food
trade. The future of food security will not be in the hands of local
farmers
and women, but will be entrusted to huge multinational agribusiness
concerns
operating world-wide. The results will be large scale displacement of
farmers
from food production and ensuing unemployment, and the end of national
food
self-sufficiency.
To ensure Food Security globally to a handful of large companies which
can
manipulate prices and profits is de facto to make them guardians of
people's
most basic food needs. The neoliberal global food policy will affect
poor
pesants, particularly rural women. Here again women as food providers at
the
household level will be the main victims of this policy.
In June 1996 an FAO Conference on Plant Genetic Resources took place in
Leipzig, Germany. An independent NGO meeting proceeded it, entitled: "In
Safe
Hands: Communities, Safeguard Biodiversity and Food Security." At this
conference several women from South and North observed that the whole
discussion of "Food Security" did not take into account the fact that it
is
women world-wide who provide food, both as producers and as consumers,
to their
families.
We decided to formulate a statement rejecting the trend to remove the
food
security from the hands of communities, farmers and women, and to
criticise the
neoliberal policy of global food trade and the genetic manipulation of
food for
the sake of profit. This statement, was distributed in Leipzig. Now we
want to
share it world-wide through women's and other networks, and collect
signatures
to present at FAO/World Food Security meeting, in Rome in November. We
invite
you to join this campaign, by discussing the issue and distributing this
statement and collecting signatures.
Please keep us informed of your participation in this effort at one of
the
addresses below. Send signatures there, and we will let you know about
future
activities. We look forward to your active co-operation. Yours
sincerely: Maria
Miews ITPS e.v Am Zwinger 16 33602 Bielefeld Germany
Vandana Shiva, Third World Network India
A 60 Hauz Khas New Delhi 110016, India
Tel/Fax: +49 521 67692
Fax: +91 11 68 56795
LEIPZIG APPEAL FOR WOMEN'S FOOD SECURITY
For thousands of years women have produced their own food and guaranteed
food
security for their children and communities. Even today 80% of the work
in
local food production in Africa is done by women. In Asia it is 50-60%
and in
Latin America 30-40%. Everywhere in the world women are responsible for
food
security at the household level. In patriarchal society, however, this
work has
been devalued.
All societies have survived historically because they provided food
security
for their people. This policy, however has been subverted by
globalisation,
trade liberalisation, industrialisation and commercialisation and
agricultural
products under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and
the World
Bank/IMF.
In November 1996 the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation will hold a
World
food Summit in Rome. Its goal is to achieve "universal food security" by
the
year 2010, eradicating hunger and malnutrition. However, the technical
preparatory papers show that this objective is to be met through a
continuation
and extension of industrialusation and the world-wide trade of food.
Food will
be produced where labour is cheapest and environmental protections
weakest.
Poor communities will be forced to produce luxury products for export to
reach
countries and classes. These trends are alredy in effect, with
devastating
results: large-scale disappearance of small farmers; the end of food
self-
sufficiency; reliance on monoculture; genetic manipulation of food; loss
of
biodiversity and sustainability. The impoverished rural people who are
displaced through this world agriculture policy end up as marginal
members of
society in over-crowded mega-cities without work, hope-or food. Although
it is
known that this policy is the cause of poverty and malnutrition, it is
still
proposed as a remedy for these very ill. The most vulnerable groups
affected by
these policies are poor rural women and children.
This policy also threatens food security and safety in the North, where
the
family farm has been rapidly replaced by chemical-intensive
agrobusiness.
Consumers have become hostages to a handful of transnational food
processing,
and trading corporations. At the consumption end of the globalised food
chain,
women as housewives can no longer guarantee that they can give their
families
wholesome and healthy food.
In Peru, Chile and other countries of the South, women are fighting
against
this monopolic policy, building their own communal food and healthy
systems.
Women in indigenous societies fight against land alienation; women in
export-
oriented agriculture oppose hazardous chemicals. They are supported by
women in
the North who call for boycotts of these export products: flowers,
vegetables,
shrimps.
Many groups in the North and South reject genetic manipulation of food.
We are
told that this bio-technology is necessary to feed a growing world
population.
However, 60% of cereals are fed to animals in industrial farming
systems. And
more and more land in the South is not used for nourishing local people,
but
for the production of luxury items for export.
The comercial interests connected to this technology are particularly
apparent
in the promotion of patenting of life forms - plants, animals and humans
-
under the protection of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPs). In
the South, the patenting of life forms is opposed because it is in many
cases
based on simple piracy theft of indigenous biodiversity and local
knowledge. In
the North, many people oppose patents on life forms for ethical reasons.
On the consumer side, a majority of European oppose genetically
manipulated
foods. Yet the European Union promotes such "novel food", even refusing
to
label it, thus denying consumers their human and civil right to
determine what
they eat. Consumption in this so-called "free market" becomes a matter
of
coercion.
World-wide, women are resisting the policies which destroy the basis of
their
livelihood and food sovereignty. And they also create alternatives to
guarantee
food security for their communities based on different principles and
methods
than those governing the dominant, profit-oriented global economy.
They are:
* localisation and regionalisation instead of globalisation;
* non-violence instead of aggressive domination;
* equality and reciprocity instead of competition;
* respect for the integrity of nature and her species;
* understanding humans as part of nature instead of as masters over
nature;
* protection of biodiversity in production and consumption.
Food security for all is not possible within a global market system
based on
the dogmas of free trade: permanent growth, comparative advantages,
competition
and profit maximization.
On the other hand, Food Security can be achieved if people within their
local
and regional economies feel responsible, both as producers and
consumers, for
the sustainability of land and other resources, for the social and
ecological
conditions of food production, distribution and consumption, for the
preservation of cultural and biological diversity where self-sufficiency
is the
main ecological goal.
Our Food security is too vital an issue to be left in the hands of a few
transnational corporations with their profit motives, or up to national
governments that increasingly lose control over food security decisions,
or to
a few - mostly male - national delegates at UN conferences who take
decisions
affecting all our lives.
IF YOU WANT TO JOIN US IN THIS APPEAL, PLEASE SEND YOUR SIGNITURES AND
ADDRESSES TO EITHER MARIA MIES OR VANDANA SHIVA. CONTACT AS ABOVE.
EVENTS
October 6-11, 1996 Mangochi, Malawi
'Community Voices' and Annual Congress of The Media Institute of
Southern
Africa, MISA. Contact John Baker, MISA Private Bag 13386, Windhoek,
Namibia.
Tel: 264-61-232975 Fax: 264-61-248016 Email: johnb@ingrid.misa.org.na
October 13-18, 1996, Machakos, Kenya
Community Writers' Workshop. Organised by Arid Lands Information
Network,
Forest Action Network and EcoNews Africa. Contact: Community Media
Program
Coordinator, EcoNews Africa. P.O Box 76406, Nairobi. Tel&Fax:
254-2-604682 Tel:
254-2-605127 Email: econews@tt.sasa.unon.org
October 16-17, 1996 Munich Germany
IIC/FES Pre-Conference Seminar on Communications for development. Some
successful applications of information and technology in developing
countries.
Contact: Mercy Wambui, Co-Organiser, EcoNews Africa P.O Box 76406,
Nairobi.
Tel&Fax: 254-2-604682 Tel: 254-2-605127 Email: Mwambui@tt.sasa.unon.org
October 14-16, 1996, Lagos, Nigeria
NGOs and the implementation of Habitat II- An African Regional Workshop
=2E
Contact:
Prof.A.G Onibokun, CASSAD, Ibadan, Nigeria Fax: 234-2-810453
SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 01 Dec 1995 20:37:28 +0300
From: BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
To: GAMBIA-L@U.WASHINGTON.EDU
Subject: SOLAR ENERGY FOR WHOM?!
Message-ID: <30BF3D57.31AB@QATAR.NET.QA>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
-- Subject:=20
SOLAR ENERGY for WHOM?!
Date:=20
Fri, 01 Dec 1995 20:25:48 +0300
From:=20
BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
Organization:=20
ISLAMIC INSTITUTE FOR TECH. TRAINING
To:=20
GAMBIA-L@U.WASHINGTON.EDU
SOLAR ENERGY FOR WHOM?
By Lewis Machipisa
Had the world leaders who will attend the Sep. 16-17 World Solar Summit
come
here a bit earlier, they may have been able to see the Mujuru family
switch
back to electricity after six years of frustration with solar
technology. They
stopped using their solar system at the start of this month.
''Solar energy is not as effective as we could not use it for other
things
such as cooking and pumping water,'' says Emmanuel Mujuru, whose father
owns a
farm in this small mining town about 200 km south-west of Harare.
''You would have to have an installation for each of these things and
that
costs a lot of money,'' he adds. ''We could only use it for lighting and
nothing else. But we need more than just light. How many people can
afford to
install a solar system for a water pump, a solar system for a cooker and
one
for a geyser?''
Africa has plenty of sunshine, but solar power remains only of
limited use
as an alternative energy source. ''The high unit costs of solar systems
have
prevented a wider use of all these systems by potential users,'' notes
an
assessment of solar and wind energy utilisation in Africa by the Dakar
office
of Enda-Third World, a international developmental non- governmental
organisation (NGO). The cost of generators and accessories for
photovoltaic
systems is about three times that of fossil fuel systems, according to
ENDA-TW.
The Mujurus paid the equivalent of 2,500 U.S. dollars all told for
their
solar system. Prices have gone down since then but they are still high,
according to figures quoted to IPS by Ecological Designs, a firm that
supplies
and installs solar equipment here. A system that gives enough energy for
one
bulb and a radio costs 800 U.S. dollars, including the installation
costs. One
able to powerall lights in a four-bedroomed house plus a radio costs
around 1,
100 dollars.
Few here can afford that. Only about 7,000 homes in Zimbabwe use
solar
power, according Gengez Gangat, director of Ecological Designs. ''Sales
tax on
imported solar panels and solar batteries is very high and this has been
the
major obstacle stifling growth in that industry,'' Gangat told IPS.
No one from the Mujuru family will be attending the summit to share
their
experiences with the delegations representing 76 families and 22 Non
Governmental Organisations who will discuss how to expand the use of
solar
power and other renewable sources of energy.
Had he been able to go, Emmanuel Mujuru would also have told the
delegates of
another problem his family has had.
''Also our experience with solar energy was the lack of back-up
service,'' he
told IPS. ''Spares are not readily available in Mvuma and each time
something
breaks down, you have to go to Harare or Masvingo for spares. Again
that needs
money. Once the company sold us the panels, that was the last time we
saw
them.''
Still, there has been some increase worldwide in the use of solar and
other
alternative sources ofenergy. According to the UN Educational,
Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), about 18 percent of the world's primary
energy
now comes from renewable sources.
One reason why developing countries should take a hard look at
alternative
energy sources is that, by the year 2020, they are expected to consume
more=20
than half the world's energy but many of them do not have adequate
energy
resources.
While the idea of using solar energy to cook, for example, is spreading
in the
north, people in many developing nations are still using firewood, which
fuels
deforestation.
In Zimbabwe, more than seven million people depend on fuelwood,
consuming well
over five million tonnes annually. Moreover, throughout Africa, women
spend
long hours and a great deal of energy searching for wood that is
becoming
increasingly scarce.
Over the years, African officials have shown little regard for solar
power.
Despite a ''glut of results and prototype shapes in annual reports,
actual
applications on the ground remain very modest,'' says Enda-TW.
According to Gangat, ''there has been a lack of commitment by
government at a
high level''.
''The (Zimbabwe) government should have made sure that national
utility
companies such as ZESA (Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority) create a
large-
scale solar power generating station to bring power to the people,'' he
says.
''Some of the people are in very remote areas. It will take them more
than 20
years before they can have electricity from ZESA.''
Only about five percent of people in the rural areas, where three
out of
every four Zimbabweans live, have access to electricity. Percentages
vary
elsewhere in the world. So does the feasibility of bringing electrical
power to
everyone. Solar power could be the answer in many cases, according to
Gibson
Mandishona, national project manager for the World Bank's Global
Environment
Facility (GEF) in Zimbabwe.
''Many developing countries experience long hours of sunshine so tapping
solar
energy would help them immensely,'' he explains. For starters, though,
some
governments, including Zimbabwe's could make it cheaper for people to
switch to
solar energy.
''What I want to come out of the summit are concrete measures by
government
that it is going to reduce sales tax, duties and surtax on solar
equipment,''
says Gangat.
Source:- IPS Features
--=20
SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 1 Dec 1996 14:33:48 -0500
From: "Malanding S. Jaiteh" <msjaiteh@mtu.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Forwarded: Three job openings
Message-ID: <199612011933.OAA09012@spruce.ffr.mtu.edu>
----- Begin Included Message -----
>From owner-forgrad-l-outgoing@mtu.edu Tue Nov 26 13:56:44 1996
X-Received: MTU Resend v1.1 for forgrad-l
X-Sender: jmoore@141.219.149.237
Date: Tue, 26 Nov 1996 13:56:36 -0500
To: forgrad-l@mtu.edu
From: "James B. Moore" <jmoore@mtu.edu>
Subject: Forwarded: Three job openings
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Tue, 26 Nov 1996 13:10:00 -0500
To: forestry-l@mtu.edu, forgrad-l@mtu.edu, ffrstaff-l@mtu.edu
From: Blair Orr <bdorr@mtu.edu>
Subject: Three job openings
Three Job Announcements from a list:
1. Socio-economist or Anthropologist, Nepal Himalayas
2. GIS/Wetlands specialist, Adirondack Mountains, USA
3. Public participation in environmental decisionmaking, Szentendre, Hungary
********************************************
1. We're trying to find a good, experienced soul to fill an
in-country slot on this Nepal project. The Kali Gandaki "A" hydro project has
now been approved so they start construction in the next few months. We need
to fill a slot for an experienced Socio-Economist and/or Anthropologist, with
international development project experience, preferably in the Asia region.
Here is the job description:
Socio-Economic Advisor & Trainer-- GANDA requires an experienced
Socio-Economist/Anthropologist for a long-term (1 year plus) field assignment
in Asia. Responsibilities include management and training of local staff,
design and oversight of technical field studies, including studies aimed at
providing compensation and rehabilitation packages to residents affected by
an upcoming infrastructure development project. The successful applicant will
reside at the project site and will also have responsibility for ensuring
that social conditions-related mitigation and monitoring requirements are
successfully carried out during the initial construction stages. Applicants
must have a Masters or Ph.D. in a relevant discipline.
Qualified candidates please send a resume by FAX to 1-415-789-9245, attn.:
John
Garcia, Principal. Or, you can contact him directly at 1-415-789-9242
(in California, USA). All inquiries must be received by November 23, 1996.
************************************************************************
2.
Wetlands and Whole Watershed Project Coordinator
The New York State Adirondack Park Agency seeks a statement of interest and
qualifications for a position as a wetlands/GIS scientist funded for a 3 year
period.
The individual must have experience assessing the vegetational, hydrologic
and ecologic character of wetlands in a watershed context; be a demonstrably
competent GIS operator with at least 1 year cumulative analytic and
statistical GIS experience; be adept at building and manipulating GIS
databases; have administrative experience in tracking product delivery
schedules, writing status reports, have skills in personnel interactions and
independent problem solving; and have airphoto and other remote sensing
interpretation experience.
Although the individual should hold a Ph.D. those with a MS degree and having
greater than the basic qualifications are encouraged to apply. As soon as
possible please send a statement of qualifications to Raymond P. Curran or
Daniel M. Spada, Adirondack Park Agency, Box 99, Ray Brook, New York
12977 USA (Phone 1-518-891-4050; FAX 1-518-891-3938; or
E-MAIL apa@northnet.org).
3.
The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC), an
international organization headquartered in Szentendre, is looking for a
Project Officer for its Public Participation Program team. The Project Officer
will be responsible for overseeing the program's training activities in
several
CEE countries, as well as other policy research and monitoring activities to
ensure integration of public participation practices in environmental
decisionmaking processes. Qualifications include: university degree in
relevant
environmental or international field; minimum 3-5 years' experience in public
advocacy or public participation-related issues; familiarity with key
environmental problems in the CEE region; fluency in English; demonstrated
project management skills; facilitation and training experience.
Submit letter of inquiry and CV by December 2 to: Mr. Mozes Kiss, REC, Ady
Endre 9-11, Szentendre 2000, HUNGARY; Fax: +36-26-311-294; email:
mozes@fs2.bp.rec.hu.
A longer, more detailed version of this announcement will be posted later
today
on our Web site:
http://www.rec.org/
/\_/ "Cyberspace is where..|@ @|..the WILD things are!"
/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~QQQ~~(_)~~QQQ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Rossen Roussev |
| Information Systems Officer, Webmaster Tel: (36-26) 311-199 |
| Regional Environmental Center Fax: (36-26) 311-294 |
| for Central and Eastern Europe e-mail: |
| Ady Endre ut 9-11 Rossen.Roussev@rec.org |
| 2000 Szentendre, Hungary http://www.rec.org/ |
\-------------------------------------------------------------------/
-------------------------------------------------------------
James B. Moore
Systems Administrator
School of Forestry and Wood Products
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, Michigan 49931
Internet: jmoore@mtu.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------
----- End Included Message -----
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 01 Dec 1996 14:55:16 -0500
From: Andy Lyons <alyons@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Sources of 2nd hand computers
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19961201195516.30bf2a3c@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Earlier someone wrote:
>We should note that the rate at which computers become outdated in the US is
>rapid enough that there are probably thousands of computers that are
>effectively junk at present. 386's would easily satisfy a Gambian school's
>needs as far as the Internet and basic computer proficiency courses.
>
>We could go "computer begging" in the US if we had some legitimate Gambian
>organization as an umbrella. Perhaps GaSTech could provide this legitimacy
>once we are properly set up. I would be inclined to think that large
>corporations would regard such donations as good PR.
Below are three articles on the subject of used computers, including
organizations that collect them for redistribution:
=============================
New lives for old computers.
Wilkins, Francis
COPYRIGHT Environmental Action Inc. 1995
Of the 10 million computers discarded annually in the United States, about
nine million end up in landfills. Only 1 million are currently refurbished,
donated to others or have their components recycled. However, the computer
reuse and recycling industry is "growing exponentially," according to
Michael Wiggins of Computer Reclamation, Inc., a Maryland-based non-profit
that repairs and then directs used equipment to other non-profit organizations.
In 1991, $3 billion worth of equipment changed hands through more than 3,000
used computer outlets in the United States. In addition, more than 200
computer exchanges maintain databases that match up potential buyers and
sellers of used equipment. According to Nikki and David Goldbeck's Choose to
Reuse (Ceres Press: Woodstock, NY, 1995, 456 pages, $15.95), some major
computer companies such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard are marketing their own
refurbished or discontinued equipment from factory outlets. Computer repair,
however, is one of the fastest growing businesses in the United States.
Meanwhile, European Union countries are considering "take back" laws that
would require manufacturers to recycle used equipment.
The fast pace of technological development in the computer industry quickly
puts equipment out of date - 40 percent of new computer purchases are to
replace old models. For those who need cutting edge technology, the rapid
improvement of hardware has made the computer an almost semi-disposable
commodity. However, it has also spawned an expanding buyers' market, filled
with used - but, for many people, still very useful - equipment.
As outdated machines command lower and lower resale prices, donations, which
to non-profits are tax-deductible, are becoming more popular. Several
non-profits, such as Computer Reclamation, Inc., direct donated equipment to
people in need: low-income groups, schools and groups abroad. Another group,
the East West Education Development Foundation in Boston, not only strives
to keep usable equipment out of the landfills, it also aims to nurture
emerging democracies in Eastern Europe and around the world by giving their
citizens tools with which to communicate.
Monica Graves, procurement manager with East West, receives about 30 calls a
day from people offering to donate computer equipment. She feels that there
is growing awareness of the available opportunities to recycle equipment.
"People are starting to think about recycling as they outgrow their
computer, rather than years down the line," when they have far less value,
Graves says.
Many computer supplies and peripheral equipment can also be easily reused or
recycled. Floppy disks, for example, can be "written over" to store data
over 30,000 times; reuse is generally a question of erasing the data
currently on the disk. Updated software renders an estimated 10 million
programs obsolete each year, with up to 30 million disks being destroyed to
protect the copyright. Covenant Recycling Services, a California company,
remarkets 50,000 to 100,000 disks per month. While most of them come from
software publishers and other mass users, any business can collect its used
disks for resale. Another company, GreenD-isk, claims that every 100,000
packages of its recycled disks sold saves almost 50,000 cubic feet of
landfill space.
Laser toner printer cartridges can also be reused. Thirty million were
thrown away in 1993, but if remanufactured they could save North American
businesses an estimated $1.5 billion, as well as saving on raw materials and
landfill space. Companies that sell remanufactured cartridges, which cost
about half the price of new ones, generally give credit for spent cartridges
too. Ink-jet cartridges can be refilled up to 10 times if they are cleaned
at the same time.
========================================
Old equipment going unused? Pass it on!
(Consumer Watch)
(where to donate used computers)
(Brief Article)
COPYRIGHT PC World Communications Inc. 1993
XTs and ATs aren't stupid, they just need to find the right home, says the
East-West Foundation's Alex Randall. Any one of the following groups, and
countless more, are ready, willing, and able to adopt your orphaned
hardware and software.
CompuMentor 415/512-7784. Sells donated software to nonprofit groups for a
minimal price.
Computer Recycling Center 408/734-5030. Distributes donated equipment to
California schools and provides ongoing support for hardware and software.
Also trains individuals in computer maintenance.
Computers and You 415/922-7593. A computer education and training center for
disadvantaged children and adults.
Detwiler Foundation Inc. Computer for Schools Program 619/456-9045. Solicits
corporate donations of PC hardware, which it places in California schools.
East-West Education Development Foundation 617/542-1234. Refurbishes
equipment and donates it to needy groups in the United States and throughout
the world. Accepts donations of single computers or bulk donations from
organizations and businesses.
National Cristina Foundation 800/274-7846. Brokers donated equipment to 500
partner organizations for use in PC training and rehabilitation programs for
disabled and disadvantaged children.
Non-Profit Computing Inc. 212/759-2368. Arranges for donation of computers
and other telecommunications equipment and software to nonprofit groups.
=================================
Turning have-nots into haves.
(organizations that recycle old computers)
(Real Problems, Real Solutions)
Fryer, Bronwyn
COPYRIGHT PC World Communications Inc. 1995
For those who use PCs every day, it's hard to remember how we ever got by
without them. Right now more than a third of the homes in the United States
have a computer, and that number is growing daily. But many people still
can't afford one. In fact, that old 386 or 286 (or even an ancient 8088)
gathering dust in your garage could be a real boon to a child, an invalid,
or anyone else who doesn't have access to a computer.
Ever thought about setting up a computer-recycling program? Before you say
you don't have time, consider the efforts of Andrew Adkins and Joel Bridges.
This month these computer consultants from Gainesville, Florida, describe
how they devoted just a few hours a week to helping redistribute the PC
wealth in their area. -- Ed.
Organizing the Organizers
These days it's hard to find a professional who doesn't complain about lack
of time. Take us, for example. We each work about 60 hours a week running
our consulting businesses. Between managing projects for about 150 clients
each, serving on the boards of various organizations, and looking after our
families, neither of us has much time for volunteering. But last year we
discovered how easy and rewarding it could be to set up a volunteer
computer- recycling program. And we were surprised by how little time it
took to do something to benefit our community.
About four years ago, a community business organization to which we belong
helped establish a free electronic bulletin board service called Free-net,
where residents of Alachua County, Florida, could find job listings, forums,
minutes of school board meetings, a calendar of scheduled events, Internet
access, and the like. The service, which now serves 17,000 users, has been
very successful. But the popularity of a democratic service like Free-net
caused us to wonder about the people who couldn't afford computers. Weren't
they being unfairly shut out of our electronic community?
The obvious solution was to find a way of getting computers to those who
couldn't afford them. Several organizations do collect old computers and
pass them on to people in need. The Cristina Foundation, for example, gives
unwanted computers to disabled children. The East West Foundation donates
used computers to charities. But no national organization was likely to give
our computers to someone in our community. We needed a local organization
for this.
We already knew of churches, hospitals, schools, and social service and
volunteer agencies that craved computers; the trick was to find people to
gather unwanted systems, add modems, and redistribute them. After wrestling
with the idea, we both decided that we were the right people to round up
volunteers. As computer consultants, we already had a huge network of
clients, dealers, and fellow consultants who might be able to help.
Our first step was to locate a workshop where the computers could be stored
and made operable. This was easier than we thought: The local school board
had spare space in its maintenance area. Next, we sent letters to 35
computer dealers and consultants, asking if they would serve as drop-off
points for old computers. We got 20 positive responses. Since we already
knew the respondents as business associates, it was easy to combine work
with do-gooding. During routine business calls, we distributed tax-donation
forms to be given to those who offered old computers; a sheet for recording
inventory on the hardware these companies took in; and a form with contact
information for coordinating pickups.
Some dealers volunteered to test the computers to see if they worked; others
offered discounts to those who donated systems -- good business sense, since
a donor was either a customer or likely to become one. The total time it
took us to write and send the letter, create the forms, and visit the
dealers and consultants was just 10 hours.
The next step was to find people who could pick up and repair the computers.
This was easy, too: By advertising on Free-net and putting the word out at
local user groups, we rounded up volunteers, who meet in the workshop every
few weeks for repair sessions.
One local agency even sponsored an ad campaign on local TV and radio and in
the newspapers, asking for old computers as well as volunteers for our
computer-recycling operation. As a result, we gained a dozen eager helpers,
including some good technicians. (Initially, there was such an outpouring of
old computers -- usually Apple IIs, Commodores, IBM PC XTs, and 286s -- that
we simply dumped them wherever there was room in our repair shop. We have
that chaos under control now, with a staging area for new donations, a
storage area for checked-out systems, and a delivery area for recycled systems.)
The final step was to coordinate deliveries. This was easy: Every couple of
weeks, the volunteers deliver and install systems.
Reaping the Rewards
Since November 1994 our group has collected more than 150 computers, 25 of
which have been refurbished and delivered to people who think a PC XT is a
gift from heaven. Once we took a computer to an 18-year-old man with
cerebral palsy. The man's parents purchased a special adapter that allows
him to use a joystick to enter commands; now he has a way to communicate. We
gave a computer and printer to a woman who opens up her home to help
underprivileged youngsters with their homework; the kids are doing better
than ever in school. We gave one to a Nigerian man who sends donations of
badly needed medical supplies and textbooks to his country: When we showed
him how to send E-mail messages to his homeland, his eyes filled with tears.
Results like these -- and the outpouring of donations, time, energy, and
effort from all kinds of people -- constantly remind us what a positive
impact a program like this is having on our community.
Bronwyn Fryer is a contributing editor for PC World. If you use PCs to
manage people and other resources in a business environment, we want to hear
from you -- we pay $300 for published columns.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 1 Dec 1996 23:10:53 +0000
From: momodou.camara@post3.tele.dk (Camara, Momodou)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: THE FARAFENNI INCIDENT
Message-ID: <19961201221036.AAA28312@LOCALNAME>
Tombong Saidy wrote:
> The Farafenni Barracks incident was unfortunate and tragic. The military camp
> was attacked in the early hours of last Friday, November 8, by a group of
> bandits who crossed over from Senegal. They are members of a group called
> "SOFA", ("SOFA" is a mandinka word used in the olden days especially in the
> Mali empire. In The Gambia we use the same term but we called it "SU FAA",
> and the "sofa/su-faa" is generally a warrior on horse backs-cavaliers) based
> in Kaolack. It is believed that the group is connected to ex-Vice President
> Saihou Sabally and Kukoi Samba Sanyang, strange bedfellows.
Gambia-l,
There was no mention of Saihou Sabally in any Gambian Newspaper I
have seen so far. Kukoi had trained some Gambians in Libya who were
later taken through Burkina Fasso and Ivory Coast to Liberia to
assist Charles Taylor. Some of these people were the ones who made the
attack at Farafenni barracks.
I would like to recommend a video cassette on the press conference
shown on Gambia TV with five of these atackers which is being
sold in the Gambia right now. Five of the attackers are now in the
costody of the Gambian authorities one of whom is a Senegalese.
The Senegalese and two other Gambians were arrested in Senegal
( one at the boarder and two in Dakar). These people were being
brain-washed by Kukoi whom they call Dr. Manneh and there are many of
their kind in Liberia as NPLF combatants and body-guards of Charles
Tailor.
You can ask your family members or friends to send you a copy of the video cassette
which is being sold in the markets.
Peace
Momodou Camara
------------------------------
Date: 02 Dec 1996 15:01:05 +0100
From: "Ba-Musa Ceesay" <Ba-Musa.Ceesay@Oslo.Norad.telemax.no>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu (Receipt notification requested)
Cc: GAMBIA-L <x400@norad.telemax.no> (Receipt notification requested)
Subject: New member
Message-ID: <post.ut32a2e15b*/c=NO/admd=Telemax/prmd=Norad/o=Oslo/s=Ceesay/g=Ba-Musa/@MHS>
Content-Identifier: post.ut32a2e15b
Content-Return: Prohibited
Mime-Version: 1.0
AFRICANS DEMONSTRATE OUTSIDE NORWEGIAN PRIME MINISTERS OFFICE
Norwegian medical authorities AIDS-ALARM - Africans depicted as AIDS-BOMBS
and threat to Norwegian society.
The virus HIV and it`s disease AIDS is a human problem filled with tragedy
for those involved, irrespective of race or having residence in
Nordfjordeid. It is important that the measures taken to combat this
disease are carefully planned and understood.
International medical expertise has recognised and recommended that the
best way to achieve success, is to effectuate the fight against AIDS in a
way that will encourage those affected, to come forward in the
understanding that they will not be bemirched.
In this respect we have noted that Norwegian Health Authorities and -
law, have not deviated from internationally accepted norms, and have up to
now avoided basing the medical approach to this subject on who is affected
by HIV, but has instead concentrated its efforts on how to protect all
those affected, without discrimination or stigmatisation.
This sensible and respected policy has now been ignored by the Norwegian
medical authorities with respect to the African community in Norway. They
have presented prejudices clothed in statistical drivel, as medical
indications that the African community in Norway is responsible for the
spread of HIV and AIDS in Norway. Under large media headings like ? Don`t
have unprotected sex with Africans ?. The Norwegian Health Authorities
have implored all Norwegians who have had sex with Africans to undergo
AIDS test. They have sought to justify this by statements such as ? one in
10 Africans in Norway are infected with HIV (after two weeks this was
reduced to one in 50) while giving corresponding figures for Norwegians as
one in 20-30.000. They stated also that two Africans with AIDS, one of
whom has died and the other left Norway, had infected five Norwegian
women. Furthermore that 12 of the 17 heterosexual persons (adjusted two
weeks later to five out of 17) infected so far this year where through
Africans.
The fact that they also stated that 409 people here have died of AIDS and
1.537 are AIDS infected, portrays an impression of havoc apparently being
done by Africans in Norway.
It would seem that it is Africans with their life style in Africa or life
style brought abroad, that is responsible for HIV infection of 1.537
norwegians and the death of 409 of them.
The advanced Norwegian medical opinion as to why this HIV scourge is the
consequence of African life style that accompanies every African from
anywhere in Africa. irrespective of where he finds himself and regardless
of whether he has lived in Berk}k, for the last Forty years is pathetic.
What relevance do this figures have for the prevention of HIV/AIDS in
Norway.
The statistics that was used to buttress this dramatic warning, appear to
have been based on presumption rather than established scientific norms of
documentation. 244 Africans are said to have in all been tested HIV
positive. Figures are there. In order to draw further conclusions and
carry out comparison on these, it is required that the respective case
groups exhibit common characteristics.
It appears that the medical authorities do not know how many Africans who
were tested positive are still in Norway, yet they still included them in
the statistics as living in Norway.
We also ask whether the Health Departments test result for a group of
persons who recently came from areas where HIV is rampant can be assumed
to be the same for all Africans in Norway ?.
We note that the figures given for HIV infected Norwegians are uncertain
and question the categorical figures given for Africans.
In the Telemark area of Norway where there are many Africans , the test
result for HIV among Africans is given as 0.8 % by the Telemark Laboratory
which is responsible for such tests.
To go public with general warning against unprotected sex with Africans is
unnecessary.
Africans like others living in Norway conceal numerous behavioural
patterns. Some are from high endemic areas and have perhaps also had many
sexual partners there. Others have live in Norway long before HIV appeared
as an epidemy and live like most Norwegians. Some Norwegians have just
arrived home from areas of the world where HIV is widespread and may also
have had many sexual partners there. Which of these do the Norwegian
medical authorities refer to when they send out their HIV/AIDS warning
against Africans.
We have so far tried in vain to let the Norwegian health authorities
realise that they with this warning against Africans have turned HIV/AIDS
debate in Norway into one of skin colour. We find this disgusting.
The reaction to our protests has generally been that only Norwegians can
comprehend and that Africans misunderstand.
The portrait of Africans presented by the medical authorities fits well
with the usual barrage of epithets and scorns we as Africans are
accustomed to meet in Norway. Such grotesque and inflammatory
presentation of Africans in Norway must now finally cease. It poses
serious political, social and psychological hazards and consequences for
us and tend to destroy the foundation of goodwill and friendship that we
together with Norwegian friends are struggling to establish.
We therefore find it neccessary to sue the Norwegian health authorities
for criminal libel as well as for incitement to racial discrimination.
The lack of care and insufficient knowledge of it`s own society that has
been demonstrated by the Norwegian Health Authorities, has led to a
situation where everyone who looks African is under every aspect seen as
an AID bomb. Information they have given about HIV infected Norwegians has
not lead to the identification of individuals. This is now so in the case
of two HIV infected Africans.
Why desalinate such information about Africans when it is generally known
75 % of HIV infection among Norwegians heterosexuals occur through
unprotected sex with fellow europeans.
In their presentation , which they of course stated is not racist, they do
not implore Norwegians not to have unprotected sex with Norwegian
development aid workers who according to statistics accounts for 62
heterosexuals infected in Norway.
This time instructions were not given on how to react to homosexuals and
bisexuals, who until now have statistically been presented as the main
source of HIV in Norway. Furthermore we are left with impression that
there does not seem to be a problem of Norwegians infecting Africans with
Aids either here or abroad.
Africans expect that everyone in Norway use protection when having sex
with a partner, who one is not absolutely sure is free of HIV infection.
The stigmatisation of all Africans in Norway is quite far reaching. It has
insufferable consequence not just for Africans but also for many more
including their Norwegian partners as well as their common children.
We are aware that many are concerned about the increasing black population
both here and elsewhere, and wonder if this scientific recall to action ?
don`t have unprotected sex with Africans ? , which incidentally would also
serve to reduce African offspring is accidental. This so, especially in
the face of the forcible sterilisation of a minority group in Norway even
after the last world war, and the recent call by legally registered
political party for similar action against non Europeans adopted children
and non-European minorities in Norway is inhuman and ominous.
This is not the first time that Africans in Norway have been subjected to
such outbursts from the same quarter.
We were aware that on the 21 august 1986, the media told Norwegians not to
have sexual realtions with Africans and on the 21 september 1986 the very
ministry of health publicly made a similar demands for all Norwegians who
had been to Africa to be tested for aids. No such appeals were made in
regards to contact with thousands of NATO soldiers on excercise here, who
at the time were coming from a country where Aids had already become one
of the biggest hazards against good health.
The African community in Norway is aware of the problems and dangers of
Aids. We have attemted to co-oprate with the department of health in order
to higlight certain aspects of this problem. To put it mildly we found
there, a development-aid mentality that will do things for us but without
us, and the attitude that those who expose themselves to Africans are at
fault. This attitude is substantiated by the fact that they never sought
the co-operation or advice of African medical doctors in Norway.
The health authorities were informed by responsible African source already
in 1989 about two Africans they present as the source of infection for
five Norwegian women already in 1989. After treatment they failed to
follow up these cases or include them in their usual responsible projects.
Africans in Norway protest most vigorously against this attempt to present
us as present day pestilence. Through their grotesque presentation the
medical authorities have lost respect and confidence of Africans in Norway
that is absolutely necessary for the dialogue that we all need in our
common fight, and have deluded many Norwegians to believe that their white
skin compensates for perilous comportment.
The African Community in Norway is as usual very willing to co-operate
with the Norwegain Health Authorities in efforts to combat HIV/AIDS as
soon as they admit that the approach and methods they have chosen to give
information in the above mentioned matter,have been most unfortunate and
regrettable and are willing to accept that Africans have at least some
knowledge about themselves. It stands to reason that they must include
competent Africans in the prophylactic measures that are planned and will
be undertaken in regards to HIV infected Africans.
African organisations in Norway have demanded a public enquiry and an
unconditional apology.
Issued by : The African community in Norway.
The article is also printed in The Point of 31 october 1996.
Ba-Musa Ceesay
------------------------------
Date: 02 Dec 1996 15:20:12 GMT
From: momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: BURKINA FASO-HUMAN RIGHTS
Message-ID: <1375141886.161591781@inform-bbs.dk>
Copyright 1996 Inter Press Service.
All rights reserved. Distribution via MISANET.
*** 29-Nov-96 ***
BURKINA FASO-HUMAN RIGHTS: Death Penalty Shocks Rights Advocates
by Brahima Ouedraogo
OUAGADOUGOU, Nov 29 (IPS) - A decision by Burkina Faso's
parliament to uphold the death penalty has shocked human rights
advocates here, but has drawn little criticism on the ground.
Many Burkinabes see the measure as a means of deterring
violent crimes in this West African nation even though the Bu
rkina Movement for Human and Peoples' Rights (MBDHP) has
described it as abusive.
''Parliament is fundamentally violating human rights in our
country,'' said MBDHP President Halidou Ouedraogo in reac
tion to the passage in parliament of a bill confirming the death
penalty.
Ouedraogo, who also heads the Inter-African Human Rights
Union (UIDH), said the UIDH was disappointed since countries
the world over have been moving to abolish capital punishment
and 40 nations had already done so.
However, he admitted that Africa tennds to be an exception to
the global trend ''because, in many countries, people t
hink that capital punishment resolves many social problems, as
in the Gambia where the military government (July 1994 t
o October 1996) reintroduced the death penalty.''
Capital punishment was introduced in 1877 in French West
Africa, which included present-day Burkina Faso, through a d
ecree that made the French penal code applicable in the then
colony.
In 1971, eleven years after independence from France, a
commission was established to draw up a new penal code in Bur
kina Faso but political upheavals interrupted its work, which
was eventually continued by parliament.
A new penal code which included capital punishment was
eventually approved by the 107-member parliament on Nov. 12.
The move took some observers by surprise since, only last
year, the death penalty -- which has been imposed only twic
e since independence, although there have been many summary
executions -- was deemed obsolete during an inter-ministeria
l debate.
Defending the new code in parliament, Justice Minister Larba
Yarga said: ''What's important is the dissuassive nature
of this law.''
However, 20 of the 88 parliamentarians from the ruling
Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) voted against the bi
ll marking the first time there had been a split vote among CDP
legislators. ''It's not because the constitution does no
t exclude the death penalty that it must be included in the
penal code,'' said Alain Ilboudo, one of the dissenters. ''I
t's a step backward ...''
Society, he said, must continually seek solutions to the
problems affecting it ''but not through the death penalty ..
When you take someone's life, you have not solved the body of
social problems that led to the existence of crime.''
But many opposition parliamentarians gave the thumbs up to
the draft, which sailed through by an 84-22 margin with on
e abstention.
Other than the dissenting parliamentarians, only the MBDHP
has come out against the adoption of the bill, although so
me Muslim leaders asked for an explanation of the move.
According to a police officer who requested anonymity, the
reason why there has hardly been any public reaction is th
at ''people no longer have any faith in the justice system
because people who commit crimes or misappropriate public fun
ds later reappear on the streets.''
Piga Ilboudo, a 60-year-old Ouagadougou resident, told IPS
that in traditional Burkinabe society there was no death p
enalty but she approved the state's decision to some extent.
''If this law can protect us from the bandits and keep the
peace then it's good,'' she said. ''But still, it's not good to
kill people.''
Brigitte Thiombiang, president of the Burkinabe Association
of Midwives, gave the new law her wholehearted support. '
'If it can deter the bandits and make them respect other
people's property, it's good,'' she said.
Mohamed Idriss, head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in
Burkina Faso, felt that the law could have an effect on the
actions of the security forces themselves. He pointed out that
during the raids they often carry out at night against c
riminals in the capital's low-income suburbs, the military,
police and gendarmes kill not only bandits but other people
as well.
''The death penalty will avoid this type of slip-up where
innocent people are often killed by the law enforcers,'' he
predicted. But, he added that there must be equal justice for
all, rich and poor alike. ''If the judge's father commits
an offence, he must be punished,'' he said.
It is perhaps not surprising that many Burkinabes are in
favour of the death penalty since mob justice is frequent in
the West African country: thieves caught by people in the
street are routinely beaten to death.
One of the first candidates for the hangman's noose could be
former head of the presidential guard Hyacinthe Kafando,
who fled to Cote d'Ivoire after staging an aborted coup attempt
in early October.
Unconfirmed reports have it that he is to be handed over to
the Burkinabe authorities after the Dec. 4-6 Franco-Afric
an Summit here. (END/IPS/BO/KB/96)
****************************************************************
[c] 1996, Inter Press Seervice Third World News Agency
(IPS) All rights reserved
May not be reproduced, reprinted or posted to any system or
service outside of the MISANET without permission from IPS or
MISA. For MISA information, send a message to
dlush@ingrid.misa.org.na and for information about IPS, send a
message to Lynette Muringi-Matimba at ipshre@harare.iafrica.com
*****************************************************************
--- OffRoad 1.9r registered to Momodou Camara
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 1996 09:31:02 -0800 (PST)
From: "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
To: Gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Forwarded posting of Musa Jawara
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.95.961202092904.4935A-100000@saul1.u.washington.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
CHRISTMAS EVE PARTY
The Gambia Support Group cordially invites you to a fundraising party at the
Marriott Hotel ( Washington Ballroom ) in Gaithersburg,
Maryland.Complimentary drinks and hors d'oeuvres will be provided in the
Executive Lounge.A non stop music from the African Rhythm to the Rhythm &
Blues, Reggae, Salsa, Zouk, Hip Hop, Soukus...
$ 10 ( cover charge ) TIME 8:30PM to 4:00AM
Proper Attire Required.
DIRECTIONS : Take I-495 West to 270 North.Take Exit 9B at Sam Eig Highway
West. Then turn left onto Fields Road, and left again onto Rio Blvd., which
becomes Washington Blvd.Pass the Rio Entertainment complex and turn left into
the Hotel entrance.
R.S.V.P. 301- 434- 4354
301- 434- 2748
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 96 13:19:27 -0600
From: Francis Njie <francis_njie@il.us.swissbank.com>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Miss WORLD Controversy
Message-ID: <9612021919.AA00398@new_delhi>
Mime-Version: 1.0 (NeXT Mail 3.3risc v124.8483.5)
Content-Type: text/plain
Basssss!!!!
This will be my last posting on this subject since I consider it somewhat
frivolous relative to the numerous problems threatening sub-Saharan Africa
today. Here goes...
>> As for the meaning of beauty,it was a "combination of qualities that give
>> pleasure to the senses or to the moral sense or intellect" And if we add
>> one more thing, namely the title the occasion,MISS WORLD PAGEANT,the
>> entire picture becomes much more apparent.
The dictionary definition of beauty says nothing of the universality of
beauty. In fact, it had dare not! I do not have to go into the details of the
physical and cultural differences between sub-Saharan African women and
European women to convince anyone of the fact that there are at least two
different standards of beauty involved here. Sub-Saharan Africans and Europeans
do not have the same features or culture!
I had hoped my previous message would convey my belief that the inventors of
the title, the "MISS WORLD PAGEANT", are absolutely foolish to believe that the
title or the contest makes any logical sense. But then reason is an endangered
species... A major case in point is the United States calling its sports
champions "world champions"-- the world champion Chicago Bulls, the World
Series, etc... While it is probably true that even if the rest of the world
competed in these U.S. championships the U.S. teams would probably dominate,
the fact remains that the rest of the world (besides Canada, of course) does
not compete in these championships. What happened to the principle of fair
representation?? I do NOT mean to condemn the U.S. (God knows I love this
country!) but... well... facts are facts...
>> Now,I do agree with you that there must be one set of standard inorder
>> to run a contest,but it cannot follow from that that the components that
>> go into the configuration of that SET OF STANDARD must necessarily
>> biased.
It, in fact, does follow that the protocol used to determine the contest's set
of standards would be at best biased for the simple fact that physical
attributes are a major component of this set of standards. The protocol would
eventually recommend (whether implicitly or explicitly) a certain set of
physical attributes as the standards of the contest, and the complaints of the
Zimbabwean contestants reveal nothing more than the fact that at least their
physical attributes are divergent from those recommended in the contest's set
of standards.
>> So,since the pronouced title is MISS WORLD and not MISS
>> CAUCASIAN,it should be the duty of anyone interested in it to put enough
>> pressure on the organizers ,so that the mechanism that decides who wins
>> and who loses be configured in such a way that it would be reflective
>> not only of the qualities of beauty of one human tribe, but of the
>> international community as a whole.And that can easily be done by,
>> first,choosing various judges from various cultures; and,two,by training
>> those multi-ethnic,multi-cultural judges to look for those qualities
>> that constitute female beauty in most cultures.
I honestly do not know what "female beauty in most cultures" is. The idea is
certifiably nebulous. Furthermore, considering the fact that the Western
cultural hegemony is at least pervasive today, I doubt that the idea of "female
beauty in most cultures" is not composed primarily of Western beauty ideals.
Please note that I am NOT blaming anyone for this hegemony-- Western nations
own most of the world's media and to the extent that they are able to project
their images of beauty on these media (which they have every right to do... I
should not have to say this!) and that their wealth is desired by much of the
world, it naturally follows that the rest of the world would aspire to these
images. The fact alone that sub-Saharan African contestants at the "Miss World
Pageant" are much less ample than the typical sub-Saharan African beauty should
attest to the vitality of the hegemony. Again, please note that I am not
condemning anyone for this...
>> So, the scream you heard from the Zimbabwean lady, is a scream of a
>> person who wanted the rules be changed so that her people also would one
>> day stand the chance of winning this grande aesthetics contest.And your
>> attempt to silence such an important protest,such a petition for justice
>> and fairness on the international stage is disturbing ,to say the
>> least.
Miss Zimbabwe, Miss Zambia and Miss Tanzania should convince their
countries/region to hold their own pageant to avoid screaming again. I would
NOT recommend giving such a pageant a name that suggests any form of
cosmopolitanism-- A title like "Miss World Africa" or what have you would be
just as laughable as the title "Miss World Beauty Contest". Furthermore, the
business or political interests that probably drive the participation of these
beautiful ladies in the "Miss World Beauty Contest" should be made to realize
that they are doing nothing more than subjecting these ladies to humiliation,
and these interests should realize the greater merit in funding their own
contest.
The purpose of my previous message was not to "silence" the protest "for
justice and fairness on the international stage". It was frankly to give this
particular protest a more accurate direction. The protest should be about the
title of the contest... not the "fairness" of the contest. I am convinced that
the "fairness" spoken of in the protest is unattainable and simply wished to
present my arguments to members of the list.
I probably should not have said the Pan-African Consultancy and Productivity
Institute should "shut up". That was probably out of character for me... It is
just that I have heard numerous such irrational protests from sub-Saharan
Africans. I get a sense that it is pretty much accepted that sub-Saharan Africa
is at the mercy of Western nations. If we do not break the cycle of dependence
now, then we have a very shady future... Why depend on the "Miss World Beauty
Contest" when you could have your own?! (By the way, I also think it is ironic
that a not-so-serious issue would serve as a vehicle for more serious themes.)
>> That is why I want you to listen to the master,AIMER CESAIRE :-
>> "But the work of man is just begining, and it remain to man to conquer
>> all the violence entrenched in the recess of his passion.And no race
>> possesses the monopoly of beauty,of intelligence,of force,and there is a
>> place for all at the Rendez Vous Of Victory" And what more could I add
>> to that except that the struggle for justice,equal and fair treatment
>> for all continues!!!
Cesaire was right! No race possesses "the monopoly of beauty"-- every race has
its own notions of beauty. You should have the coordinators of the "Miss World
Beauty Contest" read this quote... it just may prompt them to change the title
of their contest... not that I would be particularly concerned about the
title, as long as sub-Saharan African nations do not send their contestants to
the contest...
The length of this message actually scares me! Am I that argumentative?! (:
- Francis
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Standard Disclaimers:
The opinions/ideas expressed here are mine alone. They do not reflect the
policies of my employer in any way whatsoever.
Furthermore, because I have no political affiliation, political figures and
parties mentioned here are necessarily incidental to my opinions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 02 Dec 1995 22:44:46 +0300
From: BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: New member
Message-ID: <30C0ACAD.49B7@QATAR.NET.QA>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Ba-Musa Ceesay wrote:
>=20
> AFRICANS DEMONSTRATE OUTSIDE NORWEGIAN PRIME MINISTERS OFFICE
>=20
> Norwegian medical authorities AIDS-ALARM - Africans depicted as AIDS-BO=
MBS
> and threat to Norwegian society.
>=20
> The virus HIV and it`s disease AIDS is a human problem filled with trag=
edy
> for those involved, irrespective of race or having residence in
> Nordfjordeid. It is important that the measures taken to combat this
> disease are carefully planned and understood.
>=20
> International medical expertise has recognised and recommended that the
> best way to achieve success, is to effectuate the fight against AIDS in=
a
> way that will encourage those affected, to come forward in the
> understanding that they will not be bemirched.
>=20
> In this respect we have noted that Norwegian Health Authorities and -
> law, have not deviated from internationally accepted norms, and have up=
to
> now avoided basing the medical approach to this subject on who is affec=
ted
> by HIV, but has instead concentrated its efforts on how to protect all
> those affected, without discrimination or stigmatisation.
>=20
> This sensible and respected policy has now been ignored by the Norwegia=
n
> medical authorities with respect to the African community in Norway. Th=
ey
> have presented prejudices clothed in statistical drivel, as medical
> indications that the African community in Norway is responsible for the
> spread of HIV and AIDS in Norway. Under large media headings like ? Don=
`t
> have unprotected sex with Africans ?. The Norwegian Health Authorities
> have implored all Norwegians who have had sex with Africans to undergo
> AIDS test. They have sought to justify this by statements such as ? one=
in
> 10 Africans in Norway are infected with HIV (after two weeks this was
> reduced to one in 50) while giving corresponding figures for Norwegians=
as
> one in 20-30.000. They stated also that two Africans with AIDS, one of
> whom has died and the other left Norway, had infected five Norwegian
> women. Furthermore that 12 of the 17 heterosexual persons (adjusted two
> weeks later to five out of 17) infected so far this year where through
> Africans.
> The fact that they also stated that 409 people here have died of AIDS a=
nd
> 1.537 are AIDS infected, portrays an impression of havoc apparently bei=
ng
> done by Africans in Norway.
> It would seem that it is Africans with their life style in Africa or li=
fe
> style brought abroad, that is responsible for HIV infection of 1.537
> norwegians and the death of 409 of them.
>=20
> The advanced Norwegian medical opinion as to why this HIV scourge is th=
e
> consequence of African life style that accompanies every African from
> anywhere in Africa. irrespective of where he finds himself and regardle=
ss
> of whether he has lived in Berk}k, for the last Forty years is pathetic.
>=20
> What relevance do this figures have for the prevention of HIV/AIDS in
> Norway.
>=20
> The statistics that was used to buttress this dramatic warning, appear =
to
> have been based on presumption rather than established scientific norms=
of
> documentation. 244 Africans are said to have in all been tested HIV
> positive. Figures are there. In order to draw further conclusions and
> carry out comparison on these, it is required that the respective case
> groups exhibit common characteristics.
>=20
> It appears that the medical authorities do not know how many Africans w=
ho
> were tested positive are still in Norway, yet they still included them =
in
> the statistics as living in Norway.
> We also ask whether the Health Departments test result for a group of
> persons who recently came from areas where HIV is rampant can be assume=
d
> to be the same for all Africans in Norway ?.
> We note that the figures given for HIV infected Norwegians are uncertai=
n
> and question the categorical figures given for Africans.
> In the Telemark area of Norway where there are many Africans , the test
> result for HIV among Africans is given as 0.8 % by the Telemark Laborat=
ory
> which is responsible for such tests.
> To go public with general warning against unprotected sex with Africans=
is
> unnecessary.
> Africans like others living in Norway conceal numerous behavioural
> patterns. Some are from high endemic areas and have perhaps also had ma=
ny
> sexual partners there. Others have live in Norway long before HIV appea=
red
> as an epidemy and live like most Norwegians. Some Norwegians have just
> arrived home from areas of the world where HIV is widespread and may al=
so
> have had many sexual partners there. Which of these do the Norwegian
> medical authorities refer to when they send out their HIV/AIDS warning
> against Africans.
> We have so far tried in vain to let the Norwegian health authorities
> realise that they with this warning against Africans have turned HIV/AI=
DS
> debate in Norway into one of skin colour. We find this disgusting.
> The reaction to our protests has generally been that only Norwegians ca=
n
> comprehend and that Africans misunderstand.
> The portrait of Africans presented by the medical authorities fits well
> with the usual barrage of epithets and scorns we as Africans are
> accustomed to meet in Norway. Such grotesque and inflammatory
> presentation of Africans in Norway must now finally cease. It poses
> serious political, social and psychological hazards and consequences fo=
r
> us and tend to destroy the foundation of goodwill and friendship that w=
e
> together with Norwegian friends are struggling to establish.
> We therefore find it neccessary to sue the Norwegian health authorities
> for criminal libel as well as for incitement to racial discrimination.
>=20
> The lack of care and insufficient knowledge of it`s own society that ha=
s
> been demonstrated by the Norwegian Health Authorities, has led to a
> situation where everyone who looks African is under every aspect seen a=
s
> an AID bomb. Information they have given about HIV infected Norwegians =
has
> not lead to the identification of individuals. This is now so in the ca=
se
> of two HIV infected Africans.
> Why desalinate such information about Africans when it is generally kno=
wn
> 75 % of HIV infection among Norwegians heterosexuals occur through
> unprotected sex with fellow europeans.
> In their presentation , which they of course stated is not racist, they=
do
> not implore Norwegians not to have unprotected sex with Norwegian
> development aid workers who according to statistics accounts for 62
> heterosexuals infected in Norway.
>=20
> This time instructions were not given on how to react to homosexuals an=
d
> bisexuals, who until now have statistically been presented as the main
> source of HIV in Norway. Furthermore we are left with impression that
> there does not seem to be a problem of Norwegians infecting Africans wi=
th
> Aids either here or abroad.
>=20
> Africans expect that everyone in Norway use protection when having sex
> with a partner, who one is not absolutely sure is free of HIV infection.
> The stigmatisation of all Africans in Norway is quite far reaching. It =
has
> insufferable consequence not just for Africans but also for many more
> including their Norwegian partners as well as their common children.
> We are aware that many are concerned about the increasing black populat=
ion
> both here and elsewhere, and wonder if this scientific recall to action=
?
> don`t have unprotected sex with Africans ? , which incidentally would a=
lso
> serve to reduce African offspring is accidental. This so, especially in
> the face of the forcible sterilisation of a minority group in Norway ev=
en
> after the last world war, and the recent call by legally registered
> political party for similar action against non Europeans adopted childr=
en
> and non-European minorities in Norway is inhuman and ominous.
> This is not the first time that Africans in Norway have been subjected =
to
> such outbursts from the same quarter.
> We were aware that on the 21 august 1986, the media told Norwegians not=
to
> have sexual realtions with Africans and on the 21 september 1986 the ve=
ry
> ministry of health publicly made a similar demands for all Norwegians =
who
> had been to Africa to be tested for aids. No such appeals were made in
> regards to contact with thousands of NATO soldiers on excercise here, w=
ho
> at the time were coming from a country where Aids had already become on=
e
> of the biggest hazards against good health.
>=20
> The African community in Norway is aware of the problems and dangers of
> Aids. We have attemted to co-oprate with the department of health in or=
der
> to higlight certain aspects of this problem. To put it mildly we found
> there, a development-aid mentality that will do things for us but witho=
ut
> us, and the attitude that those who expose themselves to Africans are a=
t
> fault. This attitude is substantiated by the fact that they never sough=
t
> the co-operation or advice of African medical doctors in Norway.
>=20
> The health authorities were informed by responsible African source alre=
ady
> in 1989 about two Africans they present as the source of infection for
> five Norwegian women already in 1989. After treatment they failed to
> follow up these cases or include them in their usual responsible projec=
ts.
> Africans in Norway protest most vigorously against this attempt to pres=
ent
> us as present day pestilence. Through their grotesque presentation the
> medical authorities have lost respect and confidence of Africans in Nor=
way
> that is absolutely necessary for the dialogue that we all need in our
> common fight, and have deluded many Norwegians to believe that their wh=
ite
> skin compensates for perilous comportment.
> The African Community in Norway is as usual very willing to co-operate
> with the Norwegain Health Authorities in efforts to combat HIV/AIDS as
> soon as they admit that the approach and methods they have chosen to gi=
ve
> information in the above mentioned matter,have been most unfortunate an=
d
> regrettable and are willing to accept that Africans have at least some
> knowledge about themselves. It stands to reason that they must include
> competent Africans in the prophylactic measures that are planned and wi=
ll
> be undertaken in regards to HIV infected Africans.
>=20
> African organisations in Norway have demanded a public enquiry and an
> unconditional apology.
>=20
> Issued by : The African community in Norway.
>=20
> The article is also printed in The Point of 31 october 1996.
> Ba-Musa Ceesay
BAMUSA!!
THANKS FOR GIVING US THE OPPORTUNITY TO READ THIS GLOOMY BUT VERY
INSTRUCTIVE ARTICLE.THE HEARTS OF ALL DECENT PEOPLE GO OUT TO YOU IN
YOUR LEGITIMATE STRUGGLE TO MAINTAIN YOUR SELF RESPECT AND HUMAN
DIGNITY.THE STRUGGLE FOR A BETTER AND MUCH ENLIGHTENED WORLD CONTINUES!!
REGARDS Bassss!!
--=20
SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 02 Dec 1995 23:03:45 +0300
From: BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Miss WORLD Controversy
Message-ID: <30C0B121.10B8@QATAR.NET.QA>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Francis Njie wrote:
>=20
> Basssss!!!!
>=20
> This will be my last posting on this subject since I consider it somewh=
at
> frivolous relative to the numerous problems threatening sub-Saharan Afr=
ica
> today. Here goes...
>=20
> >> As for the meaning of beauty,it was a "combination of qualities that=
give
> >> pleasure to the senses or to the moral sense or intellect" And if we=
add
> >> one more thing, namely the title the occasion,MISS WORLD PAGEANT,the
> >> entire picture becomes much more apparent.
>=20
> The dictionary definition of beauty says nothing of the universality of
> beauty. In fact, it had dare not! I do not have to go into the details =
of the
> physical and cultural differences between sub-Saharan African women and
> European women to convince anyone of the fact that there are at least t=
wo
> different standards of beauty involved here. Sub-Saharan Africans and E=
uropeans
> do not have the same features or culture!
>=20
> I had hoped my previous message would convey my belief that the invento=
rs of
> the title, the "MISS WORLD PAGEANT", are absolutely foolish to believe =
that the
> title or the contest makes any logical sense. But then reason is an end=
angered
> species... A major case in point is the United States calling its sport=
s
> champions "world champions"-- the world champion Chicago Bulls, the Wor=
ld
> Series, etc... While it is probably true that even if the rest of the w=
orld
> competed in these U.S. championships the U.S. teams would probably domi=
nate,
> the fact remains that the rest of the world (besides Canada, of course)=
does
> not compete in these championships. What happened to the principle of f=
air
> representation?? I do NOT mean to condemn the U.S. (God knows I love th=
is
> country!) but... well... facts are facts...
>=20
> >> Now,I do agree with you that there must be one set of standard inord=
er
> >> to run a contest,but it cannot follow from that that the components =
that
> >> go into the configuration of that SET OF STANDARD must necessarily
> >> biased.
>=20
> It, in fact, does follow that the protocol used to determine the contes=
t's set
> of standards would be at best biased for the simple fact that physical
> attributes are a major component of this set of standards. The protocol=
would
> eventually recommend (whether implicitly or explicitly) a certain set o=
f
> physical attributes as the standards of the contest, and the complaints=
of the
> Zimbabwean contestants reveal nothing more than the fact that at least =
their
> physical attributes are divergent from those recommended in the contest=
's set
> of standards.
>=20
> >> So,since the pronouced title is MISS WORLD and not MISS
> >> CAUCASIAN,it should be the duty of anyone interested in it to put en=
ough
> >> pressure on the organizers ,so that the mechanism that decides who w=
ins
> >> and who loses be configured in such a way that it would be reflectiv=
e
> >> not only of the qualities of beauty of one human tribe, but of the
> >> international community as a whole.And that can easily be done by,
> >> first,choosing various judges from various cultures; and,two,by trai=
ning
> >> those multi-ethnic,multi-cultural judges to look for those qualities
> >> that constitute female beauty in most cultures.
>=20
> I honestly do not know what "female beauty in most cultures" is. The id=
ea is
> certifiably nebulous. Furthermore, considering the fact that the Wester=
n
> cultural hegemony is at least pervasive today, I doubt that the idea of=
"female
> beauty in most cultures" is not composed primarily of Western beauty id=
eals.
> Please note that I am NOT blaming anyone for this hegemony-- Western na=
tions
> own most of the world's media and to the extent that they are able to p=
roject
> their images of beauty on these media (which they have every right to d=
o... I
> should not have to say this!) and that their wealth is desired by much =
of the
> world, it naturally follows that the rest of the world would aspire to =
these
> images. The fact alone that sub-Saharan African contestants at the "Mis=
s World
> Pageant" are much less ample than the typical sub-Saharan African beaut=
y should
> attest to the vitality of the hegemony. Again, please note that I am no=
t
> condemning anyone for this...
>=20
> >> So, the scream you heard from the Zimbabwean lady, is a scream of a
> >> person who wanted the rules be changed so that her people also would=
one
> >> day stand the chance of winning this grande aesthetics contest.And y=
our
> >> attempt to silence such an important protest,such a petition for jus=
tice
> >> and fairness on the international stage is disturbing ,to say the
> >> least.
>=20
> Miss Zimbabwe, Miss Zambia and Miss Tanzania should convince their
> countries/region to hold their own pageant to avoid screaming again. I =
would
> NOT recommend giving such a pageant a name that suggests any form of
> cosmopolitanism-- A title like "Miss World Africa" or what have you wou=
ld be
> just as laughable as the title "Miss World Beauty Contest". Furthermore=
, the
> business or political interests that probably drive the participation o=
f these
> beautiful ladies in the "Miss World Beauty Contest" should be made to r=
ealize
> that they are doing nothing more than subjecting these ladies to humili=
ation,
> and these interests should realize the greater merit in funding their o=
wn
> contest.
>=20
> The purpose of my previous message was not to "silence" the protest "fo=
r
> justice and fairness on the international stage". It was frankly to giv=
e this
> particular protest a more accurate direction. The protest should be abo=
ut the
> title of the contest... not the "fairness" of the contest. I am convinc=
ed that
> the "fairness" spoken of in the protest is unattainable and simply wish=
ed to
> present my arguments to members of the list.
>=20
> I probably should not have said the Pan-African Consultancy and Product=
ivity
> Institute should "shut up". That was probably out of character for me..=
.. It is
> just that I have heard numerous such irrational protests from sub-Sahar=
an
> Africans. I get a sense that it is pretty much accepted that sub-Sahara=
n Africa
> is at the mercy of Western nations. If we do not break the cycle of dep=
endence
> now, then we have a very shady future... Why depend on the "Miss World =
Beauty
> Contest" when you could have your own?! (By the way, I also think it is=
ironic
> that a not-so-serious issue would serve as a vehicle for more serious t=
hemes.)
>=20
> >> That is why I want you to listen to the master,AIMER CESAIRE :-
> >> "But the work of man is just begining, and it remain to man to conqu=
er
> >> all the violence entrenched in the recess of his passion.And no race
> >> possesses the monopoly of beauty,of intelligence,of force,and there =
is a
> >> place for all at the Rendez Vous Of Victory" And what more could I a=
dd
> >> to that except that the struggle for justice,equal and fair treatmen=
t
> >> for all continues!!!
>=20
> Cesaire was right! No race possesses "the monopoly of beauty"-- every r=
ace has
> its own notions of beauty. You should have the coordinators of the "Mis=
s World
> Beauty Contest" read this quote... it just may prompt them to change th=
e title
> of their contest... not that I would be particularly concerned about th=
e
> title, as long as sub-Saharan African nations do not send their contest=
ants to
> the contest...
>=20
> The length of this message actually scares me! Am I that argumentative?=
! (:
>=20
> - Francis
>=20
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------=
----
> The Standard Disclaimers:
> The opinions/ideas expressed here are mine alone. They do not reflect t=
he
> policies of my employer in any way whatsoever.
>=20
> Furthermore, because I have no political affiliation, political figures=
and
> parties mentioned here are necessarily incidental to my opinions.
>=20
>=20
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------=
----
MR. NJIE!!
THANKS! I AGREE WITH YOUR SENTIMENTS AND WITH EVEN SOME
OF THE POINTS YOU RAISED.SO KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK DOWN THERE!!
REGARDS Bassss!!=20
--=20
SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 96 21:01:44 +0100
From: J?rn Grotnes <jgr@sni.no>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Hello, users of Gambia-L
Message-ID: <post(u)ut.32a335a8.jgr@sni.no>
Hi everybody,
This mail is from Jorn and Torstein "Tosh" Grotnes, recent members of
Gambia-L
I understand it is custom to introduce oneself when admitted to this
mailing list. We are brothers from Norway, with a strong interest in
The Gambia.
Jorn has traveled to The Gambia twice, once to visit our father who was
doing research on fish (Kobo) with his student (Adama Jobarteh), and now
recently (during the last elections) with Torstein. We are impressed with
the peace-seeking attitude of most Gambians, even in troubled times. We
believe that The Gambias future is bright, and intend to continue our
connection with the country.
We have technical educations (computers and electronics), and are very
interested in the opportunities new communications technology can offer
in places like The Gambia.
We think this kind of forum is very important, politically and otherwise,
to straighten out misunderstandings and getting other peoples points of
view. We'll contribute as well as we can.
Jorn and Torstein Grotnes
Email: jgr@sni.no - tgrotnes@online.no
----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 1996 15:20:46 -0500 (EST)
From: Bayard Lyons <blyons@aed.aed.org>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Cc: "GAMBIA-L: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List" <gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Miss WORLD Controversy
Message-ID: <Pine.BSD/.3.91.961202150834.26335B-100000@aed.aed.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
I just wanted to drop a quick thought in the bucket of ideas Basss and
Francis have provided on this topic. I wonder if the whole affair causes
anyone to wonder why Africa needs a beauty contest at all. There has
been much protest how these contests are derogatory and degrading towards
women regardless of ethnicity or race. Some have described beauty
pageants as little different than livestock auctions where the prized
cow is paraded before a panel of judges and a salivating audience of
carnivores. While preserving what is African is a noble cause,
preserving the right to be treated like a human being regardless of
gender is equally important.
Bayard Lyons
"Sen de haklisin!" - Nasrettin Hoca
"You are also right! - Nasrettin Hoca
------------------------------
Date: 02 Dec 1996 20:17:29 GMT
From: momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Joins War Against Bribery and Corruption
Message-ID: <785502109.162671097@inform-bbs.dk>
Copyright 1996 InterPress Service, all rights reserved.
Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.
*** 28-Nov-96 ***
Title: UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Joins War Against Bribery and Corruption
by Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 27 (IPS) - Amid strong misgivings from the 15-
member European Union (EU), the United Nations has fired the first
shot in a global war against bribery and corruption in
international trade and commerce.
The U.N.'s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has approved a
declaration urging the 185 member states to criminalise all acts
of bribery in international transactions and deny tax deductions
for bribes, as currently practiced in some Western nations.
Speaking on behalf of the EU, Conor Murphy of Ireland said the
criminalisation of corruption, particularly in its international
aspects, had serious political, economic, social and legal
implications.
''The matter must therefore be considered by legal experts to
determine various methods of dealing with the problem, as well as
to consider the possible negotiations of appropriate international
instruments,'' he noted.
Murphy proposed an amendment that would bar member states from
enacting legislation with extra-territorial implications. But
since he did not press for a vote, the declaration was adopted
unanimously.
All actions by member states against bribery and corruption,
the EU said, should be confined to their own territory or to acts
committed by their own citizens.
The declaration will be formally ratified by the General
Assembly early next month.
In April the 26-member Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD), under intense U.S. pressure, decided that
it should outlaw bribery in international business dealings.
The Paris-based OECD committed its members to rewrite tax rules
that have long encouraged bribery of foreign officials. The new
rules, for example, would make illegal payoffs ineligible for tax
deductions.
''This is a sea change, a very important step in breaking the
international chain of corruption,'' David Aaron, the U.S.
representative in OECD, said. ''It takes governments out of the
business of subsidising corruption by giving tax breaks for
bribery.''
Currently, the U.S. is perhaps the only major Western nation
that bars companies from paying bribes to foreign officials.
Bribery has been declared a crime under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act of 1977.
The U.S. move to outlaw bribery is being interpreted as an
attempt to remove the ''unfair'' advantage most Western nations
have over U.S. companies on international business deals.
''Last year, from April 1994 to May 1995, the U.S. government
learned of almost 100 cases in which foreign bribes undercut U.S.
firms' ability to win contracts valued at 45 million dollars,''
U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor said recently.
Washington, he said, wants ''to level the playing field and
make the rules fair by eliminating this pernicious practice.''
''Bribery distorts markets and hinders economic development,''
says Ambassador Victor Marrero, a senior diplomat with the U.S.
delegation.
The U.S. has proposed criminal penalties for bribery in
addition to its efforts to ban tax deductions for bribes paid to
foreign public officials.
Marrero told delegates that the U.N. declaration was part of
his country's initiative to combat the widespread practice of
commercial bribery the world over.
''Bribes undermine democratic accountability,'' he said,
pointing out that the declaration should help encourage member
states to deal with such unethical practices.
The declaration includes a call for transparent accounting
standards and practices, as well as codes of conduct prohibiting
bribery or even soliciting bribes.
The declaration also seeks accurate records of payments for
transnational commercial activities and urges multilateral
cooperation on criminal investigations relating to bribery.
In March Washington also succeeded in its campaign to establish
an Inter-American Convention against Corruption. The Convention
was set up by the Organisation of American States (OAS).
Washington has said it plans to put the issue of bribery and
corruption on the agenda of a major ministerial meeting of the
newly-established World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Singapore next
month.(END/IPS/TD/JL/96)
Origin: Washington/UNITED NATIONS/
----
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 02 Dec 1996 16:00:28 -0500 (EST)
From: Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Paging in The Gambia?
Message-ID: <01ICJGJZ8T1U0007E6@PSTCC6.PSTCC.CC.TN.US>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Gambia-l:
Does any one know which frequencies are used for paging in The Gambia? Perhaps
Sankung can help me out! I tried to call Gamtel's Paging dept/section without
success.
Peace!
Amadou Scattred-Janneh
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 1996 13:25:37 -0800
From: sarian@osmosys.incog.com (Sarian Loum)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Unsubscribe me
Message-ID: <199612022125.NAA12322@thesky.incog.com>
List & sub mgrs,
I'm heading to the homeland for a month long vacation so please unsubscribe all my accounts on Gambia-l after 5pm today. I'll ask to be put back on upon my return. This will mean that there'll be a lot of pressure on Amadou to take care of all the subscription requests, Tony/Abdou please help out on this role so Amadou gets a break. Merry Xmas and prosperous New Year to all!
Sarian
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 96 17:41:42 -0600
From: Francis Njie <francis_njie@il.us.swissbank.com>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Miss WORLD Controversy
Message-ID: <9612022343.AA00451@new_delhi>
Mime-Version: 1.0 (NeXT Mail 3.3risc v124.8483.5)
Content-Type: text/plain
>> Some have described beauty pageants as little different than livestock
>> auctions where the prized cow is paraded before a panel of judges and a
>> salivating audience of carnivores.
Agreed!
However, while some of us may believe that "beauty is in the eye of the
beholder" (i.e. that beauty is a subjective notion), most of the world does
not. Beauty contests are therefore events that **really** attract popular
attention. If one has something to sell, a beauty pageant would obviously be an
excellent conduit for the advertisement of one's product/service. Disney
clearly illustrated this fact, didn't it? (:
I would argue that as long as beauty contests attract the attention of the
majority of sub-Saharan Africans, beauty contests SHOULD be held in the
region-- We would not want to deny sub-Saharan African businesses the
opportunity to realize potential profits... The region is also aspiring towards
economy...
As for the moral issue raised by beauty contests, the crusade must continue...
until such contests are no longer viable options for
advertisements/promotions. Like any other moral crusade with a financial
component, an equilibrium situation will be attained sooner or later...
- Francis
Begin forwarded message:
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 1996 15:20:46 -0500 (EST)
Reply-To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Sender: GAMBIA-L-owner@u.washington.edu
From: Bayard Lyons <blyons@aed.aed.org>
To: "GAMBIA-L: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List"
<gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Miss WORLD Controversy
In-Reply-To: <9612021919.AA00398@new_delhi>
X-Cc: "GAMBIA-L: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List"
<gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.0 -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
I just wanted to drop a quick thought in the bucket of ideas Basss and
Francis have provided on this topic. I wonder if the whole affair causes
anyone to wonder why Africa needs a beauty contest at all. There has
been much protest how these contests are derogatory and degrading towards
women regardless of ethnicity or race. Some have described beauty
pageants as little different than livestock auctions where the prized
cow is paraded before a panel of judges and a salivating audience of
carnivores. While preserving what is African is a noble cause,
preserving the right to be treated like a human being regardless of
gender is equally important.
Bayard Lyons
"Sen de haklisin!" - Nasrettin Hoca
"You are also right! - Nasrettin Hoca
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Standard Disclaimers:
The opinions/ideas expressed here are mine alone. They do not reflect the
policies of my employer in any way whatsoever.
Furthermore, because I have no political affiliation, political figures and
parties mentioned here are necessarily incidental to my opinions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 02 Dec 1996 21:51:57 -0600
From: Ndey Drammeh <NDRAMME@wpo.it.luc.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Message-ID: <s2a34f99.032@wpo.it.luc.edu>
Tombong:
It is my understanding that people that were affiliated with the
former regime that need immediate medical treatment are being denied
permission to go abroad for treatment. Their requests are being denied
even after presenting documentation from their doctors confirming that
they require overseas treatment.
What is the AFPRC's justification for denying these people the right to go
seek the medical treatment that they need and should be entitled to?
Denying someone the right to seek the medical care that he or she
urgently needs amounts to slowly killing the person. I hope the AFPRC
stands ready to take full responsibility if something happens to these
people as a result of not allowing them the treatment that they urgently
need!
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 02 Dec 1996 22:22:48 -0600
From: Ndey Drammeh <NDRAMME@wpo.it.luc.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Denying some people the right to seek medical care
abroad
Message-ID: <s2a356cd.025@wpo.it.luc.edu>
Tombong:
It is my understanding that some people who are politically affiliated with
the former regime and need immediate medical treatment are being denied
permission to go abroad for treatment. Their requests are being denied
even after presenting documentation from their doctors confirming that
they require overseas medical care.
What is the AFPRC's justification for denying these people the right to go
seek the medical care that they need and should be entitled to? I believe
denying someone the right to treatment that she or he urgently needs
amounts to slowly killing the person. I hope the AFPRC stands ready to
take full responsibility if something happens to these people as a result of
not allowing them the treatment that they desperately need!
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 1996 20:32:07 -0800 (PST)
From: saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Cc: msaidy@unixg.ubc.ca
Subject: How to tell an African from an African !!!
Message-ID: <9612030432.AA33554@leed.chem.ubc.ca>
Content-Type: text
How To Tell An African From An African.
=======================================
It comes as something of a surprise to many Africans
to discover that all Africans look the same to non-Africans.
How do you tell a Nigerian from a Kenyan?, and I am not talking
about passports or clothing. The easiest way, of course, is the
name, for example Ogunkoye can only be a Nigerian, and Njoroge
a Kenyan. And where do the Dunns come from? Freed
Slaves.....they are surely from Liberia or Sierra Leone.
Surely everybody knows that the loud and cocky ones are the
West Africans; the brooding ones and sly ones are the North and
South Africans; the East Africans always say yes even when they
disagree violently. If you want to be more specific, the
Camerounians will borrow money to buy Champagne whilst the
Ghanaians think they invented politics. The Nigerians have a
"THING" about clothes, and the Ethiopians think they have the
most beautiful women on God's earth.
The South Africans have no hair; the Zambians and Kenyan
have prominent foreheads. The West Africans have short memories
and never learn from their mistakes; the concept of order and
discipline must have been invented in East Africa; the words
don't exist in West Africa especially in Nigeria.
When a cabinet minister is caught in a corruption
scandal, he commits suicide in Southern Africa; in West Africa
he's promoted after the next coup d'etat. In athletics, the
divisions are easy, from 800m to the marathon the East Africans
hold sway; the West Africans are only good at the sprints. But when
it comes to football, the North and West Africans dominate the
lesser skilled East and South Africans.
IT'S GOT TO BE SOMETHING IN THE WATER........
BUT WHEN IT COMES TO SKIN COLOUR, SURELY ALL AFRICANS ARE BLACK,
ALL BLACK???
__
********************************************************************
** Madiba Saidy **
** Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory **
** University of British Columbia **
** Tel :- (604) 822-4540 (Lab.) Fax :- (604) 822-2847 (lab.) **
** (604) 228-2466 (home) (604) 228-2466 (home) **
** Email :- saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca / msaidy@unixg.ubc.ca **
********************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 03 Dec 1995 13:41:19 +0300
From: BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Hello, users of Gambia-L
Message-ID: <30C17ECF.27ED@QATAR.NET.QA>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
J?rn Grotnes wrote:
>=20
> Hi everybody,
>=20
> This mail is from Jorn and Torstein "Tosh" Grotnes, recent members of
> Gambia-L
>=20
> I understand it is custom to introduce oneself when admitted to this
> mailing list. We are brothers from Norway, with a strong interest in
> The Gambia.
>=20
> Jorn has traveled to The Gambia twice, once to visit our father who was
> doing research on fish (Kobo) with his student (Adama Jobarteh), and no=
w
> recently (during the last elections) with Torstein. We are impressed wi=
th
> the peace-seeking attitude of most Gambians, even in troubled times. We
> believe that The Gambias future is bright, and intend to continue our
> connection with the country.
>=20
> We have technical educations (computers and electronics), and are very
> interested in the opportunities new communications technology can offer
> in places like The Gambia.
>=20
> We think this kind of forum is very important, politically and otherwis=
e,
> to straighten out misunderstandings and getting other peoples points of
> view. We'll contribute as well as we can.
>=20
> Jorn and Torstein Grotnes
>=20
> Email: jgr@sni.no - tgrotnes@online.no
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mssrs.Grotnes!!
we are very flattered by your compliments and interest in our
country.Be rest assured that, from this day on ,both of you are most
welcome! both in the Gambia and on this LIST.Please,be free to say
anything or do anything that would help us build our this tiny but sweet
country. so once again VAILKOMMNA TIL GAMBIA!!
REGARDS Bassss!!
--=20
SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 08:27:59 -0500
From: TSaidy1050@aol.com
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Denying some people the right to seek medical care abroad
Message-ID: <961203082759_606595436@emout14.mail.aol.com>
Ndey:
Before you starting making judgements and pronouncements, could you please
find out the facts first?. I would like you to be more specific, and by this
I mean give me names and dates before I start to make phone calls to verify
your claims. For any other Government Official or me to investigate your
claims, I need know who these people are, and when were they "denied
permission to go abroad for treatment"
Please remember that the AFPRC is no more. This council has been dissolved
and it does not exist any more.
Peace
Tombong
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 03 Dec 1996 11:23:13 -0500 (EST)
From: Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Unsubscribe me
Message-ID: <01ICKL6XT9K00009U0@PSTCC6.PSTCC.CC.TN.US>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Sarian,
well, have a great trip home. I hope to see you there since I should be
heading in that direction too (Dec 15-Jan 10). I guess Abdou and Tony
would have to enlist another subscription manager given our trips and
the evergrowing size of the membership.
Peace!
Amadou Scattred-Janneh
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 03 Dec 1996 11:29:12 -0500 (EST)
From: Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: New member
Message-ID: <01ICKLE23SUC0009U0@PSTCC6.PSTCC.CC.TN.US>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Lamin Camara added; intro. expected.
Amadou
(in a hurry)
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 03 Dec 1995 19:46:26 +0300
From: BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Miss WORLD Controversy
Message-ID: <30C1D461.6D34@QATAR.NET.QA>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Bayard Lyons wrote:
>=20
> I just wanted to drop a quick thought in the bucket of ideas Basss and
> Francis have provided on this topic. I wonder if the whole affair caus=
es
> anyone to wonder why Africa needs a beauty contest at all. There has
> been much protest how these contests are derogatory and degrading towar=
ds
> women regardless of ethnicity or race. Some have described beauty
> pageants as little different than livestock auctions where the prized
> cow is paraded before a panel of judges and a salivating audience of
> carnivores. While preserving what is African is a noble cause,
> preserving the right to be treated like a human being regardless of
> gender is equally important.
>=20
> Bayard Lyons
> "Sen de haklisin!" - Nasrettin Hoca
> "You are also right! - Nasrettin Hoca
BAYARD!!
I doubt it very much if DR.PAGLIA would agree with that carnivorous
discription of yours of the BEAUTY PAGEANT.She would most probably say
something like:- "What the feminists denounce as woman's humiliating
total accessibility ... is actually her elevation to high prietess of
pagan paradise garden where the body has become a bountiful fruit tree
where growth and harvest are simultaneous"
Regards Bassss!!
--=20
SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
------------------------------
Date: 03 Dec 1996 15:23:55 +0100
From: "Jobarteh, Momodou" <Momodou.Jobarteh@hordaland.vegvesen.no>
To: "Gambia-L -Internet... ." <Gambia-l@u.washington.edu> (Return requested)
Subject: SV: Hello, users of Gambia-L
Message-ID: <0629D32A437FB007*/c=no/admd=telemax/prmd=vegvesen/o=hordaland/s=Jobarteh/g=Momodou/@MHS>
Content-Identifier: 0629D32A437FB007
Content-Return: Allowed
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Disposition: inline
I would like to welcome new members especially Torstein and J=F8rn Grotne=
s to =
the Gambia-l, we look forward to your contributions.
Regards
Alhagi
J=F8rn and Torstein wrote:-
Hi everybody,
This mail is from Jorn and Torstein "Tosh" Grotnes, recent members of
Gambia-L
I understand it is custom to introduce oneself when admitted to this
mailing list. We are brothers from Norway, with a strong interest in
The Gambia.
Jorn has traveled to The Gambia twice, once to visit our father who was
doing research on fish (Kobo) with his student (Adama Jobarteh), and now
recently (during the last elections) with Torstein. We are impressed with=
the peace-seeking attitude of most Gambians, even in troubled times. We
believe that The Gambias future is bright, and intend to continue our
connection with the country.
We have technical educations (computers and electronics), and are very
interested in the opportunities new communications technology can offer
in places like The Gambia.
We think this kind of forum is very important, politically and otherwise,=
to straighten out misunderstandings and getting other peoples points of
view. We'll contribute as well as we can.
Jorn and Torstein Grotnes
Email: jgr@sni.no - tgrotnes@online.no
----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 03 Dec 1996 13:20:30 -0500 (EST)
From: Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Gambia-l Informal meeting in The Gambia
Message-ID: <01ICKP9ICK64000DYH@PSTCC6.PSTCC.CC.TN.US>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Gambia-l:
Since a few of us plan to be in The Gambia during the Christmas break, it
may be a good idea for us to have an informal gathering / get-together--
just to know each other.
What do you think?
Amadou Scattred-Janneh
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 16:08:18 -0500
From: fceesay@brynmawr.edu (Waterloolu)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Gambia-l Informal meeting in The Gambia
Message-ID: <v01540b00aeca4703eb25@[165.106.1.60]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I think that'll be a great idea!
>Gambia-l:
>
>Since a few of us plan to be in The Gambia during the Christmas break, it
>may be a good idea for us to have an informal gathering / get-together--
>just to know each other.
>
>What do you think?
>
>Amadou Scattred-Janneh
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 13:22:47 -0800 (PST)
From: "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
To: Gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Forwarded message of Sarian Loum
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.95.961203131715.6671A-100000@saul4.u.washington.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
My sister Sarian is travelling to The Gambia tomorrow and has been taken
off the list as requested until she returns. Here is a forwarded message
to all the Gambia-l netters who will be vacationing back home during the
Christmas holidays.
Tony
Hi,
I'll be around from Dec. 5 thru Jan 6 but will be travelling quite a bit
in and
out of Gambia. Will offcourse be around for Xmas & New Years. If you
guys
decide to get together (which I think is a great idea) someone give me a
buzz
at 229753 or 370981.
Guys please sign me off cause I'm leaving tomorrow morning.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 03 Dec 1996 13:20:30 -0500 (EST)
From: Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
Reply-To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
To: GAMBIA-L:
The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List <gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
;
Subject: Gambia-l Informal meeting in The Gambia
Gambia-l:
Since a few of us plan to be in The Gambia during the Christmas break, it
may be a good idea for us to have an informal gathering / get-together--
just to know each other.
What do you think?
Amadou Scattred-Janneh
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 17:28:22 -0800 (PST)
From: saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: RWANDA-UN: Documents Show Boutros-Ghali Knew of 1994 Massacre (fwd)
Message-ID: <9612040128.AA07914@leed.chem.ubc.ca>
Content-Type: text
Copyright 1996 Inter Press Service.
All rights reserved. Distribution via MISANET.
*** 28-Nov-96 ***
RWANDA-UN: Documents Show Boutros-Ghali Knew of 1994 Massacre
by Farhan Haq
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 28 (IPS) - A document that has circulated
privately in the United Nations for months suggests that
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and other top U.N.
officials were informed as early as January 1994 about a plot to
massacre tens of thousands of Rwandans.
But U.N. officials kept quiet, even after a genocide directed
mainly against Tutsi Rwandans was launched immediately after the
death of President Juvenal Habyarimana in a plane crash Apr. 7
of that year.
For many diplomats here, the idea that Boutros-Ghali kept
information about a planned genocide hidden for several crucial
months is a major blow at a time when the Egyptian diplomat is
counting on African support for his re-election as U.N. chief.
The explosive document consists of a telegramme by the senior
U.N. military commander in Rwanda at the time, Canadian Gen.
Romeo Dallaire, about remarks made by a senior Hutu leader
closely associated with the Habyarimana government.
Dallaire wrote U.N. headquarters on Jan 11, 1994, saying that
an informant ''has been ordered to register all Tutsi in Kigali
(the capital). He suspects it is for their extermination.
Example he gave was that in 20 minutes his personnel could kill
up to 1,000 Tutsis.''
U.N. sources have since confirmed that Dallaire's informant
was Jean-Pierre Turatsinze, a high-ranking member of Rwanda's
rightist and ethnic Hutu paramilitary forces, called the
Interahamwe (''those who stand together'').
In fact, following Habyarimana's still unexplained death,
thousands of Tutsis and families of moderate Hutu politicians
were slaughtered by the Rwandan Army and Interahamwe. As many as
one million Rwandans out of an estimated eight million were
killed between April and July.
Dallaire also cited Turatsinze as warning that ''Belgian
troops were to be provoked and, if Belgian soldiers resorted to
force, a number of them were to be killed and thus guarantee
Belgian withdrawal from Rwanda.''
Ten soldiers in a Belgian contingent of U.N. troops were
abducted, tortured and killed a day after Habyarimana's death,
prompting Belgium -- Rwanda's colonial master -- to pull out of
the country. That left only a minimal U.N. presence in Rwanda
during the height of the genocide.
Despite such warnings, the United Nations did not acknowledge
any plans to commit genocide to the U.N. Security Council once
the killings began.
In a report released earlier this year, Boutros-Ghali
explained, ''Such situations and alarming reports from the
field, though considered with the utmost seriousness by U.N.
officials, are not uncommon within the context of peacekeeping
missions.'' But the U.N. troops, he emphasised, never had the
authority to act on Dallaire's warnings.
Rwandan officials argue that, even without the Dallaire
telegramme, the United Nations should have been aware that
massacres were planned.
''There was prior knowledge, where political parties wrote to
U.N. headquarters,'' Rwandan envoy Pierre-Emmanuel Ubalijoro
told IPS. ''A lot of former government officials had warned
through (the U.N. troops) of the killings. But no response was
given.''
Some of the blame for the lack of information has been
levelled at the then-U.N. envoy to Rwanda, Ambassador Jacques-
Roger Booh-Booh of Cameroon, and at Under-Secretary-General Kofi
Annan of Ghana, head of U.N. peacekeeping.
At the time, U.N. officials, according to some diplomats
here, were wary of making any peacekeeping operation more
assertive so soon after the failed U.N. intervention in
Somalia. That may have contributed to the world body's failure
to respond to warnings.
Rwanda's current government, which includes many survivors of
the 1994 massacres and members of a Tutsi-led rebel force that
unseated the post-Habyarimana government, lays much of the blame
squarely on Boutros-Ghali himself.
''The system is headed by one person, the secretary-general,
and the secretary-general is the one who is responsible,''
Ubalijoro said. ''You know very well our position on him...We
were not pleased by the (United Nations') handling of the
situation.''
Although the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) has endorsed
Boutros-Ghali for a second term as U.N. head, Rwanda (along with
Ghana and Ethiopia) objected. The United States has vetoed
Boutros-Ghali and is seeking other African candidates for the
job.
Diplomats here do not discount a Washington hand behind the
surfacing of the telegramme now.
''It is a set-up,'' said one African diplomat. ''This is
being used to smear Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan.'' Until now,
Annan has been considered Washington's favourite to replace
Boutros-Ghali.
It was the Danish media which first reported on the document
after its government's aid agency, DANIDA, published a critical
report about the U.N.'s role during the Rwanda crisis last
March. In recent days, the story has been picked up by U.S. and
British outlets, including London's 'Telegraph' and 'The Boston
Globe'.
At the same time, at least one African leader -- Ethiopian
President Meles Zenawi -- has written to President Paul Biya of
Cameroon, the current OAU chair, to urge that other African
candidates for secretary-general besides Boutros-Ghali be
considered.
''We should, as we swiftly move now to ensure a second term
for Africa, avoid presenting only one African candidate for the
position, with the view of avoiding any risk of failing to
achieve our objective,'' Meles wrote Monday.
''The necessary lobbying should and must start right away,''
he added. ''Any further delay, I am seriously concerned, would
result in a fatal blow to this African chance.''
Boutros-Ghali is so far the only African candidate for
secretary-general in a race for which all nations, including the
United States, have pledged a broad preference for African
candidates. A new U.N. head must be found before Dec 31.
(end/ips/fah/jl/96)
__
********************************************************************
** Madiba Saidy **
** Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory **
** University of British Columbia **
** Tel :- (604) 822-4540 (Lab.) Fax :- (604) 822-2847 (lab.) **
** (604) 228-2466 (home) (604) 228-2466 (home) **
** Email :- saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca / msaidy@unixg.ubc.ca **
********************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 17:42:53 -0800 (PST)
From: saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Gene Mutations May Once Have Warded Off Diseases
Message-ID: <9612040142.AA12054@leed.chem.ubc.ca>
Content-Type: text
Forwarded message:
December 3, 1996
Gene Mutations May Once Have Warded Off Diseases
By GINA KOLATA
[F] ate may be cruel or indifferent but
geneticists believe there are often good
reasons for bad genes. Genes that cause diseases
like cystic fibrosis are so common, some say, as
to suggest they must confer, either now or at some
time in the past, a powerful compensating
advantage.
And so, seeking to understand mutated genes, some
researchers like Dr. Stephen J. O'Brien, a
geneticist at the National Cancer Institute in
Frederick, Md., have embarked on a quest into
medical history. O'Brien's current obsession is
with a genetic mutation, reported earlier this
year, that can confer immunity to the AIDS virus.
O'Brien discovered that 1 percent of whites, but
essentially no blacks or Asians, have two copies
of this mutated gene. In the geneticist's
scorebook, this is a very high percentage of the
population that the mutated version of the gene
has reached, especially as its function is to
knock out an important protein of the immune
system.
Do so many whites have the mutated gene, O'Brien
asks, because it protected people in generations
past from an ancient plague, or maybe a previous
visitation of the AIDS epidemic?
Geneticists who study breast cancer are asking the
same sort of questions about the two genes called
BRCA1 and BRCA2, for breast cancer 1 and 2, which
can cause breast and ovarian cancer. Both genes
are found in 1 percent of Ashkenazi Jews, a
surprisingly high percentage.
In seeking possible reasons, scientists are
cornering each other at meetings or talking to
each other on the telephone or writing provocative
editorials in journals. So far, opinion is
divided. Some are enthusiastically looking for
subtle advantages conferred by these mutated
genes. Others are more skeptical. Where, they ask,
is the evidence for a selection effect? "It's a
debate that rages in the absence of any data,"
said Dr. Lawrence Brody, a geneticist at the
National Center for Human Genome Research in
Bethesda, Md.
O'Brien is on the side of those who think the
mutations benefited populations in generations
past. He noted that the great population
geneticist, J.B.S. Haldane, said in the 1940s that
probably the greatest selection pressure of all is
not a changing environment or a scarce food supply
but the harsh culling of infectious disease.
O'Brien said he would not be surprised if
mutations like the gene that protects against AIDS
were preserved for this reason.
The mutated gene was discovered earlier this year
by Dr. Nathaniel Landau of the Aaron Diamond
Research Center in New York and his colleagues in
three gay white men who had been exposed
repeatedly to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but
never became infected.
Then O'Brien and his colleagues studied 1,965
people who had been repeatedly exposed to the AIDS
virus because they were gay men, intravenous drug
users who shared needles or hemophiliacs who
repeatedly injected themselves with blood products
that were tainted with the AIDS virus.
Most became infected. But among the few who
escaped the virus, they found 18 whites with two
copies of the mutated gene. They and others report
that 1 percent of whites in the general population
have two copies of the mutated gene, making them
immune to AIDS.
The probability calculations that are basic to
genetics indicate that in order for one out of 100
whites to have two copies of the gene, as many as
one out of five in the white population must have
a single copy of it. And it is even more common
among northern Europeans, said Dr. Michael Dean,
who is acting chief of the human genetics section
at the cancer institute in Frederick. He now finds
that as many as 23 percent of British, Swedish and
Russian whites have at least one copy of the gene.
Yet the mutation would seem to be deleterious
because it knocks out a protein, a chemokine
receptor, that protrudes from the surface of white
blood cells and allows them to respond to certain
immune system hormones known as chemokines.
And so, O'Brien said, the first question he and
others asked was, are people who have two copies
of this mutated gene healthy? O'Brien began by
studying the 18 people he had found who had double
doses of the HIV resistance gene.
"We're bringing people in and doing a complete
clinical work-up," O'Brien said. As yet, he said,
neither he nor others who are trying the same
thing have found any evidence that people with the
mutated genes are in ill health or that their
immune systems are anything but completely robust.
That suggests, O'Brien said, that there is
redundancy in the immune system, that something
else can take over when the chemokine receptor
protein is destroyed by mutations. And, he said,
it also suggests that the AIDS resistance gene is
in the population for a reason. It is almost
unheard of, he said, for 20 percent of a
population to have a single copy of a mutated gene
and 1 percent to have two copies of a gene that
confers no advantage.
O'Brien and his colleagues at the cancer institute
are studying the mathematics of the AIDS
resistance gene's spread. They assume, since the
gene is not found in blacks or Asians, that it
arose after Caucasians split off from blacks about
150,000 to 200,000 years ago. Anthropologists have
determined that the ancestral white population may
have had just a few thousand individuals.
And so, the cancer institute investigators asked,
if the mutation arose in that population by
chance, and if there was no selective advantage or
disadvantage to having the mutated gene, what is
the likelihood that, by chance, its frequency
would drift up to 20 percent of the white
population today? "The likelihood is almost zero,"
O'Brien said. "The point is, you don't get that
high numbers by genetic drift alone. You need
selective pressure."
But if the HIV resistance gene protects against
disease, it is still uncertain what disease it
protects against. Some, like Dr. David Baltimore,
a molecular biologist at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, have suggested that
perhaps there was an HIV epidemic hundreds or
thousands of years ago, and those who have the
gene today are descendants of its survivors.
Another possibility, O'Brien said, is that the
gene might protect against the Black Plague or
tuberculosis, a known scourge of European
populations.
The tuberculosis hypothesis, O'Brien said, is
particularly appealing because tuberculosis
bacteria, like HIV, slip into a type of white
blood cell called macrophages. Their entry might
be hindered if the chemokine protein were absent,
although that is yet to be determined, O'Brien
said.
The breast cancer genes are a different sort of
puzzle, researchers said. Women who inherit a
single copy of either of these mutated genes,
BRCA1 or BRCA2, have a significant chance, as high
as 90 percent, of getting breast cancer in their
lifetimes, and a 40 to 60 percent chance of
getting ovarian cancer. So why, if there is no
purpose to these mutated genes, would 1 percent of
Ashkenazi Jewish women have them?
Dr. Mary-Claire King, a geneticist at the
University of Washington, said, "We know two
things about BRCA1."
"We know the gene controls cell proliferation,"
she went on, and though the evidence comes only
from her impressions, that "when you work with
women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, you find out
that they are the healthiest, fittest women that
you would ever expect to meet." So, she added,
"I've come up with the following notion: Suppose a
woman has a BRCA1 mutation. She will therefore
have less BRCA1 protein available in her breast
epithelial cells and the cells may grow faster.
The most important thing for survival of your
lineage is whether you can bear a child and
whether you can lactate efficiently."
The cells that proliferate rapidly in women with
BRCA1 mutations are the same cells that make milk,
King noted. "Suppose that women with BRCA1
mutations are more likely to lactate under
starvation conditions," she said. And suppose,
further, that their ovary cells are more likely to
produce eggs. Those women, then, would be more
likely to produce broods of children during
famines when other women's fertility dropped and
their newborn babies starved, she suggested.
It is still just a wildly speculative hypothesis,
King confessed, but she is taking it seriously
enough to look for preliminary evidence that might
support it. In a study of Jewish women in New
York, she is testing for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes
and is questioning the women about their
fertility, asking how long it took them to become
pregnant and whether they had difficulty producing
enough breast milk to feed their children.
The breast cancer mutations join several other
mutations that seem unusually common among
Ashkenazi Jews. For example, said Dr. Arno G.
Motulsky, a medical geneticist at the University
of Washington in Seattle, Ashkenazi Jews tend to
have genes that when present in a double dose,
cause deadly neurological diseases, like Tay-Sachs
disease, and debilitating metabolic diseases, like
Gaucher disease or Niemann-Pick disease.
Some have suggested, he said, that these genes,
when present in a single copy, protect against
tuberculosis. In that case, he said, the genes
might have been advantageous to the population,
even though anyone who inherited two copies of the
genes would die.
O'Brien said that cystic fibrosis was another
disease whose genes seemed too common, unless
there was a reason for the mutation. Studies in
animals, he said, suggest that people who inherit
a single copy of the cystic fibrosis gene might be
protected from cholera.
Brody, of the cancer institute, said he was
skeptical. He noted that at least in the case of
the Jewish diseases, there was another
explanation. Ashkenazi Jews and certain other
populations, like Finnish people or the Amish,
started from a very small group and remained
isolated, marrying within the group. Such
populations, Brody said, "have a whole host of
diseases that are more represented in them" than
in larger groups that are not so isolated. A rare
gene mutation can more easily become common in
such insular populations, he explained. But, he
added, "having said that, there's a whole school
that doesn't buy it."
Dr. Neil Risch, a geneticist at Stanford
University, is one who does buy that hypothesis.
He says it is possible to explain virtually all
the strikingly high gene frequencies that are now
of such interest to geneticists simply by
postulating that genes arose by chance and were
maintained by chance. Yes, he said, "it's an
interesting debate" to ask what the genes might be
good for. But, he said, "I think the burden is on
the selectionists to produce the selective
advantage." And so far, he said, for all their
enthusiastic speculation, scientists have only
found one incontrovertible example of a genetic
mutation that causes a disease but also confers a
selective advantage.
That example is the mutation that causes sickle
cell anemia. Those who inherit two copies of the
mutated gene get a potentially deadly disease.
Those who inherit one copy of the gene are
protected against malaria. "That's the only
convincing example I know," Risch said, and it was
discovered years ago.
Others, like Motulsky, are on the fence.
"I'm withholding my complete judgment about it,"
he said. "It makes good sense that some of these
genes would have served a purpose," he said. "On
the other hand, there is this argument that in any
limited population, there is this factor of
chance. If a population has a relatively limited
number of ancestors, then you would expect certain
genes, by chance, to become relatively frequent."
Copyright 1996 The New York Times Company
__
********************************************************************
** Madiba Saidy **
** Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory **
** University of British Columbia **
** Tel :- (604) 822-4540 (Lab.) Fax :- (604) 822-2847 (lab.) **
** (604) 228-2466 (home) (604) 228-2466 (home) **
** Email :- saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca / msaidy@unixg.ubc.ca **
********************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 17:50:07 -0800 (PST)
From: saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Very Smart Fruit Flies Yield Clues to the Molecular Basis of Memory
Message-ID: <9612040150.AA07724@leed.chem.ubc.ca>
Content-Type: text
Forwarded message:
December 3, 1996
Very Smart Fruit Flies Yield Clues to the
Molecular Basis of Memory
By INGRID WICKELGREN
[I] n bottles lining a wall of a Long Island
laboratory there are swarms of fruit flies
with an unusual ability. They have been endowed
with a gene that gives them photographic memory.
In bottles nearby are their less fortunate
cousins, genetically engineered for forgetfulness.
And one floor below scamper another product of the
genetic engineer's art: amnesiac mice.
These flies and mice are the product of efforts to
identify the genes and molecules that are involved
in laying down long-term memory. Researchers have
found a protein that serves as a kind of logical
switch, signaling to the nerve cell whether a
memory is to be stored for a fleeting moment or
permanently engraved in the mental archives.
This protein switch has its counterparts in flies,
mice and humans. "At a nuts and bolts level, our
brains are working by the same principles and
mechanisms as those of little fruit flies," said
Dr. Alcino Silva, a neuroscientist at Cold Spring
Harbor Laboratory on Long Island who has led much
of the mouse work.
Indeed, the recent work on this switch, called
CREB, has given scientists "a new vantage point
for understanding how memory works," said Dr. Eric
Kandel, a neurobiologist at Columbia University's
College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York
City who has pioneered research on the molecular
basis of memory. Many molecules, he noted, are
involved in governing something as complicated as
long-term memory. But CREB has afforded the most
enticing clue to the mystery of how the brain
decides what it will and will not remember for
good.
"CREB is the clearest example of a molecule
involved in long-term memory" to come out of
behavioral studies, said Dr. Larry Squire, a
neuroscientist at the Veterans Affairs Medical
Center in San Diego.
Dr. Howard Eichenbaum, a neuroscientist at Boston
University, said: "I'm very excited. It's amazing
that CREB is so specific to memory."
"The CREB story is growing stronger as new
evidence" provides powerful links between the
protein and various memory processes, he said.
The discovery of CREB's role in fruit flies and
mice has far-reaching implications. It could
answer such questions as why cramming for a test
does not work in the long run, or why certain
emotional events become instantly etched in the
mind. Medically, the findings could possibly lead
to drug treatments for memory loss, dementia and
post-traumatic stress disorder.
When the CREB switch in a cell is turned on,
researchers believe, it sets off the synthesis of
other proteins that cement lasting memories by
supporting the growth of new connections between
nerve cells. When it is turned off, CREB halts the
production of those cementing proteins, thus
preventing unnecessary memories from forming.
Studies done in Kandel's laboratory on sea-slug
cells supplied the first hint of a role for CREB
in memory. But the recent fruit fly work provides
the most striking behavioral demonstration that
CREB works as a memory switch.
In fruit flies, as in other species, CREB is a
so-called transcription factor, a protein in the
cell nucleus that binds to DNA and causes nearby
genes to be spun into protein. Researchers have
discovered how the nerve cell flips the CREB
switch on and off. A protein called the CREB
activator turns it on, and CREB repressor turns it
off.
The gene sequences used to make the CREB activator
and CREB repressor proteins have also been
identified, and a few years ago Dr. Jerry Yin, a
biologist now at Cold Spring Harbor, endowed fruit
flies with extra genes so that one group acquired
an extra CREB activator and the other gained a
CREB repressor. To test their memories, he teamed
up with Dr. Timothy Tully, a geneticist at Cold
Spring Harbor.
Tully developed a test that measures how fast the
flies learn to associate an odor with an electric
shock in a way that produced a lasting memory.
Normal flies need 10 training sessions to form a
persistent recollection of the test. Flies with an
extra dose of CREB repressor could not form
lasting memories at all. "That showed beyond
reasonable doubt" that CREB repressor blocks
long-term memory, Tully said.
But most surprising of all, the insects fortified
with an extra CREB activator gene needed just a
single training session. "This implies these flies
have a photographic memory," Tully said. He said
they are just like students "who could read a
chapter of a book once, see it in their mind, and
tell you that the answer is in paragraph 3 of page
274."
The state of the CREB switch, at least in fruit
flies, seems to depend on the prevailing balance
in the nerve cell between supplies of CREB
activator and CREB repressor. A preponderance of
CREB activator is needed for memory storage, said
Tully, who published his and Yin's results last
year in the journal Cell.
Ordinarily, there is an equilibrium between
activator and repressor, researchers believe. CREB
repressor remains present, they suspect, to
prevent the storage of boring and unnecessary
detail -- the clutter in a room, the babble in a
bar, the "ums" in a spoken sentence. "Memory is
not about storing information; it's about storing
useful information," Silva explained.
The CREB repressor can be thought of as a memory
filter. It dominates, the theory goes, until
something important happens, like an emotionally
powerful event, that either removes CREB repressor
from nerve cells or increases the levels of CREB
activator enough to make brain cells lay down a
permanent memory. This is presumably the mechanism
by which people vividly remember where they were
when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated
or, as in Silva's case, seeing a little red
bicycle he wanted at the age of 5.
Silva has recently moved the fruit fly work
forward by studying a similar system in
experimental mice. Mice learn what is safe to eat
by smelling what is on one another's breath,
behavior that Silva exploited to measure his
mice's ability to remember what they learn. He has
found that mice with a defect in the CREB
activator gene that causes them to make much less
of its product than is normal are virtually unable
to form long-term memories. His article is to
appear in January in the journal Current Biology.
Silva also discovered that his forgetful mice
could be made to remember much better when they
had short lessons with rests in between. The
treatment looks a lot like what good students do
-- study in many short bouts instead of cramming
just before a final. In both cases, Silva
suggested, the small amount of available CREB
activator in the relevant brain cells may limit
the amount of information an animal, or a person,
can take in at one time.
Shorter bouts of learning separated by rest, he
proposed, allow time for the available activator
to recycle from the previous learning trial and
respond again -- a molecular argument for steady
studying. "We can now give you a biological reason
why cramming doesn't work," Tully said.
He and others also hope to find chemical ways of
enhancing brain cell function in people with
dementias like Alzheimer's disease and even
age-related memory loss. Tully and Yin are forming
a company called Helicon Therapeutics to parlay
their knowledge of CREB into pharmaceutical
products.
Of course, such products must depend on knowledge
of many molecules other than CREB. "It's hard to
link such a complicated process as learning and
memory to just one molecule," said Dr. Richard
Goodman, a neuroscientist at Oregon Health
Sciences University in Portland.
Others agree and are seeking to identify the
molecular machinery surrounding CREB, including
the thousands of proteins whose genes CREB
controls. They are also trying to link molecular
memory processes to larger scale changes in brain
cells and brain cell circuits.
Indeed, many secrets of memory seem poised to
unravel from work on CREB. "CREB is one of the
first truly solid molecular clues about memory,"
Silva said. And memory, Kandel added, is "who we
are."
The state of the CREB switch, at least in fruit
flies, seems to depend on the prevailing balance
in the nerve cell between supplies of CREB
activator and CREB repressor. A preponderance of
CREB activator is needed for memory storage, said
Tully, who published his and Yin's results last
year in the journal Cell.
Ordinarily, there is an equilibrium between
activator and repressor, researchers believe. CREB
repressor remains present, they suspect, to
prevent the storage of boring and unnecessary
detail -- the clutter in a room, the babble in a
bar, the "ums" in a spoken sentence. "Memory is
not about storing information; it's about storing
useful information," Silva explained.
The CREB repressor can be thought of as a memory
filter. It dominates, the theory goes, until
something important happens, like an emotionally
powerful event, that either removes CREB repressor
from nerve cells or increases the levels of CREB
activator enough to make brain cells lay down a
permanent memory. This is presumably the mechanism
by which people vividly remember where they were
when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated
or, as in Silva's case, seeing a little red
bicycle he wanted at the age of 5.
Silva has recently moved the fruit fly work
forward by studying a similar system in
experimental mice. Mice learn what is safe to eat
by smelling what is on one another's breath,
behavior that Silva exploited to measure his
mice's ability to remember what they learn. He has
found that mice with a defect in the CREB
activator gene that causes them to make much less
of its product than is normal are virtually unable
to form long-term memories. His article is to
appear in January in the journal Current Biology.
Silva also discovered that his forgetful mice
could be made to remember much better when they
had short lessons with rests in between. The
treatment looks a lot like what good students do
-- study in many short bouts instead of cramming
just before a final. In both cases, Silva
suggested, the small amount of available CREB
activator in the relevant brain cells may limit
the amount of information an animal, or a person,
can take in at one time.
Shorter bouts of learning separated by rest, he
proposed, allow time for the available activator
to recycle from the previous learning trial and
respond again -- a molecular argument for steady
studying. "We can now give you a biological reason
why cramming doesn't work," Tully said.
He and others also hope to find chemical ways of
enhancing brain cell function in people with
dementias like Alzheimer's disease and even
age-related memory loss. Tully and Yin are forming
a company called Helicon Therapeutics to parlay
their knowledge of CREB into pharmaceutical
products.
Of course, such products must depend on knowledge
of many molecules other than CREB. "It's hard to
link such a complicated process as learning and
memory to just one molecule," said Dr. Richard
Goodman, a neuroscientist at Oregon Health
Sciences University in Portland.
Others agree and are seeking to identify the
molecular machinery surrounding CREB, including
the thousands of proteins whose genes CREB
controls. They are also trying to link molecular
memory processes to larger scale changes in brain
cells and brain cell circuits.
Indeed, many secrets of memory seem poised to
unravel from work on CREB. "CREB is one of the
first truly solid molecular clues about memory,"
Silva said. And memory, Kandel added, is "who we
are."
Copyright 1996 The New York Times Company
__
********************************************************************
** Madiba Saidy **
** Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory **
** University of British Columbia **
** Tel :- (604) 822-4540 (Lab.) Fax :- (604) 822-2847 (lab.) **
** (604) 228-2466 (home) (604) 228-2466 (home) **
** Email :- saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca / msaidy@unixg.ubc.ca **
********************************************************************
------------------------------
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11511 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jun 2021 : 12:50:10
|
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 18:30:52 -0800 (PST)
From: saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Perplexing questions ?????
Message-ID: <9612040230.AA08182@leed.chem.ubc.ca>
Content-Type: text
Perplexing Questions
--------------------
Why are cigarettes sold in gas stations when smoking is prohibited
there?
Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?
If you can't drink and drive, why do you need a driver's license to
buy liquor, and why do bars have parking lots?
Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?
How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work in the morning?
If 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks
on the doors?
You know how most packages say "Open here". What is the protocol if
the package says, "Open somewhere else"?
Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?
Why is it that when you transport something by car, it's called a
shipment, but when you transport it by ship, it's called cargo?
Why is it that when you're driving and looking for an address, you
turn down the volume on the radio?
Why is it called a TV "set" when you only get one?
If pro is the opposite of con, is progress the opposite of congress?
Why is it called a "building" when it is already built?
Why do they call them "apartments" when they are all stuck together?
Why is there an expiry date on SOUR cream?
How can someone "draw a blank"?
Shouldn't there be a shorter word for "monosyllabic"?
Why is the word "abbreviate" so long?
What is another word for "thesaurus"?
When they ship Styrofoam, what do they pack it in?
If 75% of all accidents happen within 5 miles of home, why not move
10 miles away?
Why doesn't "onomatopoeia" sound like what it is?
Why do we sing 'Take me out to the ball game', when we are already
there?
Why are they called 'stands' when they're made for sitting?
Why is it that when two planes almost hit each other it is called a
"near miss"? Shouldn't it be called a "near hit"?
Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?
Why do light switches say on/off? When it's on you can see it's on,
when it's off you can't see to read.
If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
__
********************************************************************
** Madiba Saidy **
** Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory **
** University of British Columbia **
** Tel :- (604) 822-4540 (Lab.) Fax :- (604) 822-2847 (lab.) **
** (604) 228-2466 (home) (604) 228-2466 (home) **
** Email :- saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca / msaidy@unixg.ubc.ca **
********************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 21:53:31 -0500
From: SARJOB@aol.com
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Gambia-l Informal meeting in The Gambia
Message-ID: <961203215329_773700568@emout15.mail.aol.com>
Amadou:
That's a very good idea. We can go to Sanyang Beach or any other nice beach
and have a picnic and get to know each other. For me I will be in Brikama as
of December 12 (By the Grace of ALLAH), and my phone there is 484150
See you there folks and have a safe trip to Banjul.
Sarjo
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 19:09:48 -0800 (PST)
From: saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Michael Jordan's fortunes :- Breakdown !!!
Message-ID: <9612040310.AA04144@leed.chem.ubc.ca>
Content-Type: text
Michael Jordan will make over $300,000 a game, $10,000 a minute
assuming he averages about 30 minutes a game.
Assuming $40 mil in endorsements this year, he'll be making $178,100 a
day (working or not)!
Assuming he sleeps 7 hours a night, he makes $52,000 every night while
visions of sugarplums dance in his head.
If he goes to see LAST MAN STANDING, it'll cost him $7.00, but
he'll make $18,550 while he's there.
If he decides to have a 5 minute egg, he'll make $618 while boiling
it.
He makes $7,415/hr more than minimum wage (after the wage hike).
He'll make $3,710 while watching each episode of SEINFELD.
If he wants to save up for a new Acura NSX ($90,000) it would take
him a whole 12 days.
If someone were to hand him his salary and endorsement money, they
would have to do it at the rate of $2.00 every second.
He'll probably pay around $200 for a nice round of golf, but will be
'reimbursed' $33,390 for that round.
He could take 1/100,000th of his income and buy some poor college
student 5200 packages of Ramen.
Assuming he puts the federal maximum of 15% of his income into his tax
deferred account (401k), he will hit the federal cap of $9500 for such
accounts at 8:30 a.m. on January 1st, 1997.
If you were given a tenth of a penny for every dollar he made, you'd
be living comfortably at $65,000 a year.
While the common person is spending about $20 for a meal in his trendy
Chicago restaurant, he'll pull in about $5600.
This year, he'll make more than twice as much as all of the past U.S
presidents for all of their terms combined.
****
And something to cheer you up after all of this. . .
Jordan will only have to have this income for 270 more years to have a
net worth equivalent to that of Bill Gates.
****
__
********************************************************************
** Madiba Saidy **
** Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory **
** University of British Columbia **
** Tel :- (604) 822-4540 (Lab.) Fax :- (604) 822-2847 (lab.) **
** (604) 228-2466 (home) (604) 228-2466 (home) **
** Email :- saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca / msaidy@unixg.ubc.ca **
********************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 22:16:36 -0500
From: SARJOB@aol.com
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Hello, users of Gambia-L
Message-ID: <961203221634_1952277466@emout09.mail.aol.com>
Hi Jon and Tosh:
Wel-come to The Gambia-L "Bantaba". It's nice to know that there are non
Gambian natives there who really care about the country and would like to
contribute to the development of the country. Keep up the good work and
hopefully some of us will one day bump into one of you guys in The Gambia.
Please encourage your friends especially those with technical education to
look for work or setup a business in the Gambia. We really need all the help
we can in getting a decent supply of electricity to all Gambian homes
especially those people in the urban metropolitan areas.
Take care guys and have a safe and happy holidays.
Sarjo
------------------------------
Date: 04 Dec 1996 10:30:56 GMT
From: momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Joins War Against Bribery andCorruption
Message-ID: <785502109.170956590@inform-bbs.dk>
---forwarded mail START---
From: msarr@sprynet.com,Internet
To: Momodou Camara
Date: 04/12/96 1:00
Subject: Re: UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Joins War Against Bribery andCorruption
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It is commendable that the U.N is stepping to the plate and saying something
about the corrupt practices of some nations.
I would like to see them step out against those countries that bank stolen
monies from poor nations by the Mobutus of Africa. Perhaps they are waiting
for the Africans themselves to start the ball rolling. Has there been any
move,
by anyone, to bring this issue to the fore and hopefully put a stop to it,
discourage the practice by future scoundrels, and maybe, return the money to
Africa?
What is your thought on this?
Soffie
---forwarded mail END---
It is a step in the right direction for the U.N to be in the forefront of
conmating curruption in international trade and commerce.
I think there should be an international law,
making it possible for countries to recover money being
stolen by the rulers (especially from poor countries)and placed in foreign
banks.
Momodou Camara.
4.12.1996 10:02
--- OffRoad 1.9s registered to Momodou Camara
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 04 Dec 1996 08:40:23 -0500 (EST)
From: Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Gambia-l Informal Meeting
Message-ID: <01ICLTRWPBXE000HQJ@PSTCC6.PSTCC.CC.TN.US>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Gambia-l:
I am gathering the phone numbers of those List members who plan to be in
The Gambia during the Xmas break for a possible get-together at Gunjur
Beach. As Toni suggested, it could also be an opportunity to publicize
the existence and role of the group and explore ways to gain access to
local media. Please send me your phone numbers if you are heading home.
My number is: 486010 (Gunjur). Sarjo, I would be able to host the affair
if it is held in Gunjur instead of Sanyang. I hope you don't object.
Peace!
Amadou Scattred-Janneh
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 1996 08:48:04 -0500
From: TSaidy1050@aol.com
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: US TRAVEL ADVICE ON THE GAMBIA
Message-ID: <961204084802_1454348427@emout13.mail.aol.com>
Gambia-l,
Below is the Ministry of External Affairs response to the Travel Advice
issued by the State Department.
US TRAVEL ADVICE ON THE GAMBIA
The Ministry of External Affairs, Banjul, was surprised to learn on Friday 29
November, that on the advice of the American Embassy here, the US State
Department released the following Travel Advice:
‘American citizens travelling in The Gambia should be aware that numerous
acts of armed violence have occured in areas outside the greater Banjul area
during the past weekend. There are reports of several deaths and injuries
among security personenel. The Gambia is scheduled for National Assembly
elections on January 2, 1997. The American Embassy in Banjul advises
Americans travelling to The Gambia that there is an increased risk of
instability in The Gambia during the pre and post election period, November
12-January 15. The Embassy recommends that all Americans maintain a low
profile and avoid large crowds. There is an increased number of military
checkpoints throughout the country, including the greater Banjul area.
Travellers should be prepared to stop for all checkpoints and be searched. In
the event of trouble, please stay in your residence and do not go out. U. S.
citizens travelling in The Gambia are strongly encouraged to register at the
Consular Section of the U. S. Embassy immediately upon arrival, at which time
they can receive updated information on travel and security in The Gambia.’
This report from the Embassy was a deliberate misrepresentation and
exaggeration of the criminal, surprise attack on the Farafenni military camp
guard on Friday the 8th of November in the early hours of the morning. All
of you, including the US Embassy personnel, and the public in general knew by
6:00 P.M. on that day, and that the perpetrators of this crime were
intercepted as they tried to escape, and two of them captured. A third
member, wounded, was detained at Kerr Ayib just outside The Gambia. Some of
the attackers remained at large.
It was also known that while a unit of the army went to deal with the
situation, police and army checkpoints were quite naturally mounted at
strategic points to prevent the escape of the criminals and to search for the
arms stolen from the Farafenni Camp armoury.
The official Press Release announced over Radio Gambia at 6:00 P.M. on the
same day, Friday 8th November, revealed that six soldiers were killed in the
attack and others wounded. There followed full report on the television.
The deliberate distortion and exaggeration of the facts and the remedial
security measures taken by the army and the police are a clear manifestation
of the malicious and unfriendly feeling the US Embassy staff has towards The
Gambia people. The Travel Advice is surely a poorly disguised attempt to
undermine The Gambia’s Tourist Industry. One therefore cannot fail to recall
former US Ambassador Winter’s statement that they would make The Gambia
people suffer so that they would no longer support the Transition Government.
This appears to still be the Embassy’s wish and intention towards the people
of The Gambia. We the people should also note that, as usual, the Embassy has
automatically taken the usual steps to ensure the safety and comfort of its
nationals and their evacuation in the event of internal unrest due to any
"suffering" caused by it. The Gambian people should bear this unkind strategy
in mind at all times. These people create an atmosphere of uncertainty and
hardship in order to cause unrest while making sure at the same time that
their own people are not affected or even any longer in the country.
For its part The Gambia Government will continue in its effort to maintain
peace and stability and to accelerate the socio-economic development of this
country in the interest of the people. While we would welcome assistance from
many any source, we deplore any attempt by any Diplomatic Mission or
organisation to put artificial obstacles in our way by unfairly and
maliciously making the people suffer.
Permanent Secretary
Ministry of External Affairs
Banjul, The Gambia
Peace
Tombong
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 04 Dec 1996 09:49:34 -0500 (EST)
From: Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: 96L03045.html
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Panafrican News Agency
News Stories | Environment | Economics | Science and Health | Sports |
Africa Press Review
Copyright 1996 Panafrican News Agency and Africa News Service. All rights
reserved.
Material may not be redistributed, posted to any other location, published
or used for broadcast without written authorization from the Panafrican News
Agency. B.P. 4056, Dakar, Senegal.
Tel: (221) 24-13-95 | Fax: (221) 24-13-90 | E-mail:
quoiset@sonatel.senet.net
03 Dec 96 - Econews: Africa-Currencies
Paris Currency Blues Rattles the CFA
DAKAR, Senegal (PANA) - The CFA franc shed considerable weight this
week, opening on Tuesday at the nominal rate of 528.3 to one U.S.
dollars, or a loss of about a dozen francs on last week's rate.
Dealers attribute the weakening of the CFA used by 13 African
countries, to the pressure on the French franc which guarantees its
convertibility and 1:100 parity.
Former president Valery Giscard d'Estaing last week called for a
devaluation of the currency, in relation to other hard currencies,
especially the Deutschemark, to shore up the French economy, in
anticipation of the advent of a common European currency (Euro) in
1999. The government rejected the call, but could not stop the slide
of the franc.
In Dakar on Tuesday, the CFA exchanged at 513 (buying) and 543
(selling) from 500 and 530 respectively last week.
Elsewhere, the Ghana cedi also continued its "creeping depreciation",
opening on Monday at the mean rate of 1,732.45 to the dollar, from
1,729.5 on the same day last week.
The following were the average exchange rates of African currencies
this week (Current data for some volatile currencies like the Adjusted
Angolan Kwanza were not available).
Country Currency Current Rate Previous Rate
(per one USD)
Algeria Dinar 53.9 (52)
Angola Readjusted Kwanza 202.42 (31,784)
Botswana Pula 2.79 (2.3)
Burundi Franc 271.0 (260.7)
Cape Verde Escudo 75.0 (88.3)
CFA Zone Franc 523.3 (508.24)
Comoros Franc 385.50
Djibouti Franc 172.5
Egypt Pound 3.9 (3.38)
Eritrea Birr 6.30 (7.20)
Ethiopia Birr 6.33 (6.37)
Gambia Dalasi 10.0 (9.57)
Ghana Cedi 1, 732.5 1, 729.5)
Guinea G. Franc 998.83 (997.98)
Guinea-Bissau Peso 13,000.0 (5.000)
Kenya Shilling 55.68 (56.99)
Lesotho Maloti 3.69 (3.3)
Liberia Dollar 82.0 (50.0)
Libya Dinar 0.3
Madagascar Franc 1,841.9
Malawi Kwacha 15.17 (15.45)
Mauritania Ouguiya 143.0 (130.0)
Mauritius Rupee 19.45 (18.18)
Morocco Dirham 9.4 (9.1)
Mozambique Metical 11,473 (11,409)
Namibia Dollar 3.3
Nigeria Naira 80.0 (82.5)
Rwanda Franc 313.89 (360.0)
S.Tome & Principe Dobra 239.0
Seychelles Rupee 5.0
Sierra Leone Leone 820.0 (700.0)
Somalia Shilling 2,620.0
South Africa Rand 4.68 (4.60)
Sudan Pound 1,400 (1,000)
Swaziland Lilangeni 4.34 (3.69)
Tanzania Shilling 590.62 (535.00)
Tunisia Dinar 0.9 (0.98)
Uganda Shilling 1,116.5 (1,020)
Zaire New Zaire 97,671 (80,000)
Zambia Kwacha 1,272.5 (1,273)
Zimbabwe Dollar 10.0 (9.81)
E.U. ECU 1.27 (1.26)
IMF/World Bank SDR 1.46 (1.41)
*CFA Zone: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic,
Chad, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Mali, Niger,
Senegal, Togo.
_________________________________________________________________
AFRICA NEWS Home Page | AFRICA NEWS CENTRAL | The Nando Times
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 04 Dec 1995 19:05:53 +0300
From: BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: US TRAVEL ADVICE ON THE GAMBIA
Message-ID: <30C31C61.3EC3@QATAR.NET.QA>
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TSaidy1050@aol.com wrote:
>=20
> Gambia-l,
> Below is the Ministry of External Affairs response to the Travel Advice
> issued by the State Department.
>=20
> US TRAVEL ADVICE ON THE GAMBIA
>=20
> The Ministry of External Affairs, Banjul, was surprised to learn on Fri=
day 29
> November, that on the advice of the American Embassy here, the US State
> Department released the following Travel Advice:
>=20
> =91American citizens travelling in The Gambia should be aware that nume=
rous
> acts of armed violence have occured in areas outside the greater Banjul=
area
> during the past weekend. There are reports of several deaths and injuri=
es
> among security personenel. The Gambia is scheduled for National Assemb=
ly
> elections on January 2, 1997. The American Embassy in Banjul advises
> Americans travelling to The Gambia that there is an increased risk of
> instability in The Gambia during the pre and post election period, Nove=
mber
> 12-January 15. The Embassy recommends that all Americans maintain a low
> profile and avoid large crowds. There is an increased number of militar=
y
> checkpoints throughout the country, including the greater Banjul area.
> Travellers should be prepared to stop for all checkpoints and be search=
ed. In
> the event of trouble, please stay in your residence and do not go out. =
U. S.
> citizens travelling in The Gambia are strongly encouraged to register a=
t the
> Consular Section of the U. S. Embassy immediately upon arrival, at whic=
h time
> they can receive updated information on travel and security in The Gamb=
ia.=92
>=20
> This report from the Embassy was a deliberate misrepresentation and
> exaggeration of the criminal, surprise attack on the Farafenni military=
camp
> guard on Friday the 8th of November in the early hours of the morning.=
All
> of you, including the US Embassy personnel, and the public in general k=
new by
> 6:00 P.M. on that day, and that the perpetrators of this crime were
> intercepted as they tried to escape, and two of them captured. A third
> member, wounded, was detained at Kerr Ayib just outside The Gambia. Som=
e of
> the attackers remained at large.
>=20
> It was also known that while a unit of the army went to deal with the
> situation, police and army checkpoints were quite naturally mounted at
> strategic points to prevent the escape of the criminals and to search f=
or the
> arms stolen from the Farafenni Camp armoury.
>=20
> The official Press Release announced over Radio Gambia at 6:00 P.M. on =
the
> same day, Friday 8th November, revealed that six soldiers were killed i=
n the
> attack and others wounded. There followed full report on the television.
>=20
> The deliberate distortion and exaggeration of the facts and the remedia=
l
> security measures taken by the army and the police are a clear manifest=
ation
> of the malicious and unfriendly feeling the US Embassy staff has toward=
s The
> Gambia people. The Travel Advice is surely a poorly disguised attempt t=
o
> undermine The Gambia=92s Tourist Industry. One therefore cannot fail to=
recall
> former US Ambassador Winter=92s statement that they would make The Gamb=
ia
> people suffer so that they would no longer support the Transition Gover=
nment.
> This appears to still be the Embassy=92s wish and intention towards the=
people
> of The Gambia. We the people should also note that, as usual, the Embas=
sy has
> automatically taken the usual steps to ensure the safety and comfort of=
its
> nationals and their evacuation in the event of internal unrest due to a=
ny
> "suffering" caused by it. The Gambian people should bear this unkind st=
rategy
> in mind at all times. These people create an atmosphere of uncertainty =
and
> hardship in order to cause unrest while making sure at the same time th=
at
> their own people are not affected or even any longer in the country.
>=20
> For its part The Gambia Government will continue in its effort to maint=
ain
> peace and stability and to accelerate the socio-economic development of=
this
> country in the interest of the people. While we would welcome assistanc=
e from
> many any source, we deplore any attempt by any Diplomatic Mission or
> organisation to put artificial obstacles in our way by unfairly and
> maliciously making the people suffer.
>=20
> Permanent Secretary
> Ministry of External Affairs
> Banjul, The Gambia
>=20
> Peace
> Tombong
HELLO!!
America's capacity to do good is almost equal to its capacity to do
bad.But with all its frightening capability to do harm to countries that
do not bow down to its dictate,America can make life miserable only for
those countries whose peoples are not fully in support of what their
governments are doing for them.The dramatic political experience of the
past couple of years has taught most teacheable Gambians that, really,
when a government is willed,determined ,responsible and patriotic,it can
make some far reaching and positive changes in their lives.So, as long
as the present Gambian Government is committed to its vision of putting
gambia on the fast tract to the 21st.Century;of putting back
consciousness into an erstwhile comatose little country;of putting clean
water,medical facilities and eletricity in all the the little dark
villages around the lenght and bredth of the country;of trying to
achieve self sufficiency in the food crops that can be grown locally;of
devolving power to towns and cities around the country; of completing
its infrastructural revolution,there is nothing anybody would say or do
that could severely harm the Gambian nation ,and that includes the
almighty U.S.A
Regards Basss!!
--=20
SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 1996 19:26:49 -0800 (PST)
From: saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Cc: ayo@chml.ubc.ca
Subject: The perfect holiday gift. NOT!!!!!!
Message-ID: <9612050326.AA07748@leed.chem.ubc.ca>
Content-Type: text
Season's Greetings !!!
Now that the holiday season is here, we are all in a festive mood and
some of us will be heading home to visit our families. It is the time
of the year that we buy gifts for our friends, families and significant
others...however, mishaps do occur during the packaging/labeling of the
gifts.
I hope the married folks won't mistakenly send the wrong package to
their Mother-in-law (you don't want to further strain, your already
strained relationship).
I know we've got more pressing issues to discuss on the list, but
occasional humor is one way of overcoming (or temporarily diverting
attention from) academic stress and other stresses of life we endure
while away from the motherland.
Anyway, the following is a holiday gift humor...I hope it is not
graphic for some of you. So here goes....
_______________________________________________________________________
***********************************************************************
A young man wished to purchase a gift for his new sweetheart
and, as they had not been dating very long, after careful consideration
he decided that a pair of gloves would strike the right note - romantic,
but not too personal. Accompanied by his sweetheart's younger sister he
went about buying a pair of white gloves, while the younger sister
purchased a pair of panties(underwear) for herself.
During the wrapping the sales assistant mixed up the items and the
sister left with the gloves and the sweetheart ended up with the
panties. Without checking the contents he sealed the package and mailed
it to his loved one with the following note.
#######
Hi Sweetie,
I chose this because I noticed you are not in the habit of
wearing any when we go out in the evening. If it had not been for your
sister, I would have chosen the long ones with buttons, but she wears
short ones that are easily removed.
These are a delicate shade, but the lady who served me showed
me a pair she had been wearing for the past three weeks and they are
hardly soiled. I had her try on yours and she really looked smart.
I wish I could be there to put them on for you for the first
time, as no doubt other hands come in contact with them before I have
chance to see you again and when you take them off, remember to blow in
them before putting them away as they will naturally be a little damp
from wearing.
Just think how many times I will kiss them in the coming year.
I hope you will wear them on Friday night.
With every love,
$#@%&@#$
P.S:- The latest style is to wearing them folded down with a little
fur showing.
Cheers,
Madiba.
__
********************************************************************
** Madiba Saidy **
** Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory **
** University of British Columbia **
** Tel :- (604) 822-4540 (Lab.) Fax :- (604) 822-2847 (lab.) **
** (604) 228-2466 (home) (604) 228-2466 (home) **
** Email :- saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca / msaidy@unixg.ubc.ca **
********************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 1995 13:36:37 +0300
From: BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: THE PERFECT GIFT(FLOP)!!
Message-ID: <30C420B4.4F90@QATAR.NET.QA>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
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MR. SAIDY!!
Against the backdrop of such an unbelievably profound mix-up,this
letter that this youngman wrote is the perfect recipe for not only
driving his sweetheart to the brink of a nervous breakdown,but also of
making him lose her for ever and ever ,AMEN!! And I don't think that
even an eloquent attorney like Johnny Cochran would be able to help this
youngman persuage his sweetheart that this was,afterall,a dangerous love
wrecking coincidence.
Regards Bassss!!
--=20
SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 05 Dec 1996 14:05:11 -0800
From: Isatou B Kaira <kaiisa@hs.nki.no>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Gambia-l Informal Meeting
Message-ID: <32A74717.38E1@nw-mail.hs.nki.no>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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Amadou Scattred Janneh wrote:
>
> Gambia-l:
>
> I am gathering the phone numbers of those List members who plan to be in
> The Gambia during the Xmas break for a possible get-together at Gunjur
> Beach. As Toni suggested, it could also be an opportunity to publicize
> the existence and role of the group and explore ways to gain access to
> local media. Please send me your phone numbers if you are heading home.
> My number is: 486010 (Gunjur). Sarjo, I would be able to host the affair
> if it is held in Gunjur instead of Sanyang. I hope you don't object.
>
> Peace!
> Amadou Scattred-Janneh
Hey this sure a good idea. I love meeting new people and this a chance
for me! Count me in. I'll send you my phone number(Amadou).
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 05 Dec 1996 17:50:07 +0100
From: Andrea Klumpp <klumpp@kar.dec.com>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: PEACE ...
Message-ID: <32A6FD3F.2128@kar.dec.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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.... FUL Christmas, New Year & Elections for all of you. And have a nice
come-together of Gambia-L. I'll join you in spirit.
Andrea
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 96 13:04:04 -0600
From: Francis Njie <francis_njie@il.us.swissbank.com>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Joins War Against Bribery andCorruption
Message-ID: <9612051904.AA00508@new_delhi>
Mime-Version: 1.0 (NeXT Mail 3.3risc v124.8483.5)
Content-Type: text/plain
I have also been pondering this idea for quite a while, and I believe it
deserves at least a **prompt** try. My thanks to Soffie and Momodou for
publicizing it on gambia-l.
The following proposition would cover the "Mobutus of Africa" seeking
political asylum or living in any country that is a member of the UN. Please
note that I have NOT researched the feasibility of the ideas raised here...
although I will after the holidays if no one else does before then. (I have a
million and one things cooking and could afford only a flimsy investigation
before January 1997 !!)
I would be inclined to think that the UN does have provisions for mandate
petitions (specific to a region of the world) from nationals of any member
nation within the region concerned living at home or abroad. I would doubt that
such mandate petitions can come only from governments of member nations, since
if this were the case, necessary petitions would not be raised in situations
where governments stand to lose... which is the case at hand...
Given that it is possible for us (Gambians and other sub-Saharan Africans) to
put forward a petition to the UN for a mandate that would effectively return a
country's wealth to the country and punish the political crooks involved, we
should raise the petition!!!!!! I would imagine signatures would be required of
all the individuals presenting the petition, which would not be a difficult
thing to do. It would also be fairly easy to prove beyond a reasonable doubt
that Gambian politicans cannot possibly amass the huge amounts involved during
their lifetimes, let alone the period of their reign.
Furthermore, because this proposition is somewhat obvious, I suspect it has
been tried already without success. We would need to know why any previous
petition failed and whatever work-arounds would make sense in our case. Are
there any lawyers with experience on international law on gambia-l? Is there
any lawyer on gambia-l that would volunteer to write up the petition for us?
Would anyone on gambia-l know of any such lawyer?
To me, avoiding this issue would be like getting raped... and going back for
more... Sub-Saharan Africa is not going to rid itself of millionaire
politicians without the initiative of sub-Saharan Africans. I would urge
members of the list who have enough time now to start doing the research right
away and update gambia-l accordingly. **Please remember that the petition is
likely to be credible only if it involves or is signed by as many Gambians as
possible, so that solo work on it is likely to fail.**
I would imagine some gambia-l members also have copies of the UN constitution
stowed away in storage boxes or on their bookshelves; it's time to get them
out. The UN probably has a web site that lists the details of its constitution
also, so this might be another alternative. To find the relevant UN web sites,
go to www.yahoo.com or your favourite web directory and start searching. In
fact, I am going to do this tonight...
The US and the few other Western nations that history has shown to direct UN
action may have the final word on the success of such a petition. We would have
to do everything necessary to get these nations to see our point of view. I
suspect this would not be difficult since the global benefit of healthy
sub-Saharan African economies far outweighs the business Citibank or any other
bank gets from stolen deposits. Switzerland, not being a member of the UN, is
not covered here obviously... we may want to approach the Swiss authorities
with a similar petition.
This whole idea may sound idealistic to many. But everything around us
(besides nature... although some would argue that nature was itself God's idea)
were LITERALLY ideas before they came into existence. Most of these ideas took
a long time to implement due to repeated failure or whatever, but in the end
they came to be! If there is any excuse for not trying to raise this petition,
I think the list deserves to know. Until then, I am assuming there is no excuse
for not trying.
- Francis
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Standard Disclaimers:
The opinions/ideas expressed here are mine alone. They do not reflect the
policies of my employer in any way whatsoever.
Furthermore, because I have no political affiliation, political figures and
parties mentioned here are necessarily incidental to my opinions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Begin forwarded message:
Date: 04 Dec 1996 10:30:56 GMT
Reply-To: momodou@inform-bbs.dk
Sender: GAMBIA-L-owner@u.washington.edu
From: momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
To: "GAMBIA-L: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List"
<gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Joins War Against Bribery andCorruption
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.0 -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
---forwarded mail START---
From: msarr@sprynet.com,Internet
To: Momodou Camara
Date: 04/12/96 1:00
Subject: Re: UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Joins War Against Bribery andCorruption
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It is commendable that the U.N is stepping to the plate and saying something
about the corrupt practices of some nations.
I would like to see them step out against those countries that bank stolen
monies from poor nations by the Mobutus of Africa. Perhaps they are waiting
for the Africans themselves to start the ball rolling. Has there been any
move,
by anyone, to bring this issue to the fore and hopefully put a stop to it,
discourage the practice by future scoundrels, and maybe, return the money to
Africa?
What is your thought on this?
Soffie
---forwarded mail END---
It is a step in the right direction for the U.N to be in the forefront of
conmating curruption in international trade and commerce.
I think there should be an international law,
making it possible for countries to recover money being
stolen by the rulers (especially from poor countries)and placed in foreign
banks.
Momodou Camara.
4.12.1996 10:02
--- OffRoad 1.9s registered to Momodou Camara
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 15:06:33 CST
From: "SAL BARRY" <SBARRY@osage.astate.edu>
To: Yaikah Jeng <YJENG@PHNET.SPH.JHU.EDU>, gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Hey good looking
Message-ID: <16EC92341E1@osage.astate.edu>
Hello Marie Jeng,
How are you doing ma'am ? I hope you had a nice thanx
giving. What is going on up there ? I am having such
a wonderful day today, so I decided to send you a mail.
I know you told Alieu what I asked you to, so am not going
to ask.
I have not seen your man since before the break. Did he
sneak and visit you without telling anyone? well, you
might be busy this time so I hope this message cheers you
up. See you guys soon.
Adios senorita
Sal
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 21:22:02 -0500 (EST)
From: Gabriel Ndow <gndow@spelman.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9612052152.G429-0100000@acc41.spelman.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: MULTIPART/MIXED; BOUNDARY="-2143951868-1311457259-849838922:#429"
This message is in MIME format. The first part should be readable text,
while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools.
---2143951868-1311457259-849838922:#429
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
from latjor:
this is a test.
---2143951868-1311457259-849838922:#429--
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 21:23:30 -0500 (EST)
From: Gabriel Ndow <gndow@spelman.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9612052132.I429-0100000@acc41.spelman.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
from latjor:
this is a test.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 05 Dec 1996 21:30:25 -0600
From: Ndey Drammeh <NDRAMME@wpo.it.luc.edu>
To: TSaidy1050@aol.com, gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Denying some people the right to seek medical care
abroad -Reply
Message-ID: <s2a73f14.014@wpo.it.luc.edu>
>>> <TSaidy1050@aol.com> 12/03/96 07:27am >>>
Ndey:
Before you starting making judgements and pronouncements, could you
please find out the facts first?. I would like you to be more specific, and
by this
I mean give me names and dates before I start to make phone calls to
verify
your claims. For any other Government Official or me to investigate your
claims, I need know who these people are, and when were they
"denied permission to go abroad for treatment"
Please remember that the AFPRC is no more. This council has been
dissolved and it does not exist any more.
Peace
Tombong
Tombong:
You are the one who needs to find out the facts before accusing me of
making "judgements and pronouncements." I already have the facts to
back my claims. In fact, I have first hand information on what I am talking
about. I have no reason whatsoever to make unsubstantiated claims
regarding this issue.
Omar Sey, the foreign minister under Jawara is one of the people who
has been denied permission to go seek medical care on several
occasions. As far as denial dates are concern, I believe they are
irrelevant. The relevant issue that needs to be addressed is why he has
been denied permission. Please note that at the time of this posting, I
have been informed that Mr. Sey's passport has been returned to him.
Does that mean that he is now free to travel?
By the way, thank you for reminding me that the AFPRC is no more.
Kumbis
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Dec 1996 09:32:50 -0500
From: Yaikah Jeng <YJENG@PHNET.SPH.JHU.EDU>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Hey good looking -Reply
Message-ID: <s2a7e84a.069@PHNET.SPH.JHU.EDU>
hi mister,
unfortunately, i didn't see your brother at all. anyway, i'm looking
forward to seeing you this christmas. congratulations on your
graduation and good luck in everything (re: grad school, etc.). you
are right; with getting the flu and preparing for a publication, it
is getting to me but i'm sure that i'll be fine. i've done it
before. see you soon.
Yaikah.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Dec 1996 09:49:34 -0500 (EST)
From: Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Hey good looking -Reply
Message-ID: <01ICOOSUE5IA000D36@PSTCC6.PSTCC.CC.TN.US>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Please do not send such personal messages to the list; direct them to the
individual(s) concerned.
Amadou
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Dec 1996 10:14:09 -0500 (EST)
From: Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: 96L06008.html
Message-ID: <01ICOPNC1SO2000GBA@PSTCC6.PSTCC.CC.TN.US>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Panafrican News Agency
News Stories | Environment | Economics | Science and Health | Sports |
Africa Press Review
Copyright 1996 Panafrican News Agency and Africa News Service. All rights
reserved.
Material may not be redistributed, posted to any other location, published
or used for broadcast without written authorization from the Panafrican News
Agency. B.P. 4056, Dakar, Senegal.
Tel: (221) 24-13-95 | Fax: (221) 24-13-90 | E-mail:
quoiset@sonatel.senet.net
06 Dec 96 - Zimbabwe-Corruption
Corruption Distorts Development Programmes
HARARE, Zimbabwe (PANA) - The payment and acceptance of bribes distort
major development programmes and escalate costs, a Zimbabwean high
court judge has said.
Addressing a Transparency International seminar in Harare, Justice
George Smith said unfortunately many businessmen regarded corruption
as an essential part of doing business, at least as far as
international deals were concerned.
If it were not for businessmen from developed countries and their
readiness to flout the laws of developing countries in their thirst
for export orders, the problem would not be as big as it was today, he
said on Thursday.
"Behind these companies stand governments who somewhat incongruously
give development aid to promote standards of government while at the
same time giving tax rebates to those of their companies which help
destroy good standards of government by offering massive bribes to
officials," Smith said.
Corruption, he said, crushed the potential benefits of free market
forces.
"The honest business person goes broke, the rule of a healthy economic
system goes twisted and companies addicted to paying bribes become
rotten. In consequence, prospects for economic progress, so vital to
social development, are ruined," Smith said.
Corruption was widespread and caused severe hardship in developing
countries and those of eastern Europe and central Asia, which were in
transition from centrally controlled systems, he said. But there was
no country, rich or poor, that could claim to be wholly virtuous.
The task of trying to check and control corruption was daunting and
never ending.
He said corruption was an enemy of progress as corrupt leaders clung
to power, opposed efforts to open up governance and curbed personal
freedoms and basic human rights.
According to a Transparency International survey conducted in 54
countries, using a scale of zero for utterly corrupt to 10 for
completely corruption free, Nigeria scored 0.69, Pakistan 1.00 and
Kenya 2.21.
"In Africa, the countries of west Africa are notorious for the heights
of corruption that have been attained," he said.
_________________________________________________________________
AFRICA NEWS Home Page | AFRICA NEWS CENTRAL | The Nando Times
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 11:21:47 -0500 (EST)
From: ABDOU <at137@columbia.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: forwarding new member intro
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.95L.961206112046.15672C-100000@ciao.cc.columbia.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
From: "BALA SAHO" <b.s.saho@sussex.ac.uk>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 13:37:03 +0000
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Subject: Membership
X-Pmrqc: 1
X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.42)
Dear Members,
I have recently met Mr. Tombong Saidy and he informed me of a Gambian
discussion group. I told him of my interest and readiness to join the
group. It will therefore be appreciated if my name can be added unto
the list.
I am a Gambian postgraduate student at the Institute of Development
Studies, University of Sussex. Hopefully, I shall be around for two years doing
MPhil (Development Studies). Prior to Sussex, I have worked in The
Gambia for a number of years and have also lived, studied in other parts of
Europe.
I hope my admission will contribute to an on-going lively discussion
group.
Sincerely,
Bala
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Dec 1996 11:50:09 -0500
From: Yaikah Jeng <YJENG@PHNET.SPH.JHU.EDU>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Hey good looking -Reply -Reply
Message-ID: <s2a80880.043@PHNET.SPH.JHU.EDU>
amadou,
i think it was a mistake on Sal's part. i don't think he'd do that
i.e. send a personal message to the whole group.
yaikah!
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 11:55:45 CST
From: "SAL BARRY" <SBARRY@osage.astate.edu>
To: Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>, gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Hey good looking -Reply
Message-ID: <1839D57549B@osage.astate.edu>
Gambia-l,
I apologise for the personal mail I sent yesterday.Amadou
mistakes happen, and I can assure you this was one
Sorry
Sal
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 1995 20:31:56 +0300
From: BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <KOLLS567@QATAR.NET.QA>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Welcoming a new member!!
Message-ID: <30C5D38C.26EE@QATAR.NET.QA>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
BALA!!
You are most welcome!! I have no doubt in my mind that you will
have great fun being on this List.There is a LULL at present,but don't
be deceived by that; it can be profoundly if not too exciting at times.
So, keep up the good work at your school down there,our country needs
a lot more smart guys like yourself.Again, WELCOME ! to the PENCHABI .
Regards Basss!!
--=20
SZDD=88=F0'3Af=A8=03
------------------------------
Date: 06 Dec 1996 20:18:25 GMT
From: momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: US makes exchange of info a crime
Message-ID: <3838115806.183359296@inform-bbs.dk>
Forwarded by Momodou Camara.
---forwarded mail START---
Subject: Fwd: US Makes Exchange of Information a
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
/* Written 12:38 AM Dec 5, 1996 by twn@igc.org in twn.features */
/* ---------- "US makes exchange of info a crime" ---------- */
NEW U.S. LEGISLATION CRIMINALISES EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION
The recently passed US Economic Espionage Act criminalises the
natural development and exchange of knowledge and empowers the
nation's intelligence agencies to operate world wide to protect the
interests of US corporations.
By Vandana Shiva
Third World Network Features
New Delhi: The United States Congress has recently passed a
piece of legislation which can be interpreted as criminalising the
natural development and exchange of knowledge and empowers its
intelligence agencies to operate world wide to protect the
interests of US corporations.
The legislation empowers the intelligence agencies to
investigate the activities of ordinary persons world wide in an
effort to 'protect' the intellectual property rights of US
corporations, by viewing such IPRs as 'vital to national security'.
Increasing the absurdity of this action is the fact that what
is often seen as 'intellectual property' is information 'pirated'
from non-Western societies and indigenous communities.
Imperial power has always been based on a convergence of
military power used in the defence of trade. This convergence was
at the heart of the gunboat diplomacy during colonialism. A similar
convergence is now taking shape around the defence of trading
interests in a period of 'globalisation' and so-called 'free
trade'.
The British empire was built through the destruction of
manufacturing capacities in the colonies, and the prevention of
emergence of such capacity.
Thus 'free trade' during that era of 'technological
superiority' of England was based on the cutting off of the thumbs
of master weavers in Bengal, the forced cultivation of indigo by
peasants of Bihar, the slave trade from Africa to supply free
labour to cotton plantations in the United States and the
extermination of indigenous people of North America.
It also included laws that prevented technology transfer. From
1765 to 1789, the English Parliament had passed a series of strict
laws preventing the export of new machines or plans or models of
them. Skilled people who worked the machines were not allowed to
leave England to ensure that England remained the industrial power.
Samuel Slatter (1768-1834), who is called the 'Father of
American Manufacture', acted in violation of these British laws
when he came to the US (then the colonies) secretly carrying the
knowledge of mechanical spinning and weaving from England. He
transferred his experience of working in the English factories to
the US and built the first complete mill for spinning yarn.
While the US built its economic power and manufacturing
capacity by breaking free of the British monopolies, the current US
Congress and the present-day US corporations appear unwilling to
allow this spirit of freedom so fundamental to US history and
economic development to exist anywhere else in the world.
Anyone following in the footsteps of the 'Father of American
Manufacture' today would be arrested and jailed for 15 years or
fined up to $10 million under a new Act called the 'Economic
Espionage Act of 1996'. The Act was introduced in the US Congress
in July 1996, and passed on 17 September 1996 by a vote of 399
against three.
[The Act] 'Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit
wrongfully copying or otherwise controlling economic property
information (1) with the intent to, or with reason to believe that
the offense will benefit any foreign government, instrumentality or
agent or disadvantage any owner of proprietary economic information
that is related to or included in a product produced for or placed
in inter-state or foreign commerce or (2) with intent to divert
that information to the use or benefit of anyone other than the
owner'.
The Economic Espionage Act takes espionage from military
domains to economic domains. It redefines intellectual property
infringement as a crime, and justifies the use of intelligence
agencies to deal with issues of science and technology exchanges.
As the introduction of the Act states: 'There can be no
question that the development of proprietary economic information
is an integral part of America's economic well-being. Moreover,
the nation's economic interests are a part of its national
security interest. Thus threats to the nation's economic interest
are threats to the nation's vital security interests.'
Transfer of technology has, through the Act, been redefined as
'economic or industrial espionage'.
Espionage is typically an organised effort by one country's
government to obtain information vital to the national security
interests of another.
Scientific and technological development depend on the free
exchange of knowledge, technologies and ideas: and such exchange is
now being defined as espionage.
The absurdity of this 'intellectual property theft' becomes
even more dramatic in cases where 'intellectual property' is
derived from the transfer of knowledge from non-Western and
indigenous systems to Western corporations. The US corporations
have 'pirated' indigenous innovation and claimed it as their
'intellectual property'. Examples include patents on neem, haldi or
turmeric, and Phyllanthus Niruti.
Will the intelligence agencies of the US government be used to
protect this 'intellectual property'? What methods will be used to
destabilise the traditional uses, life-styles and cultures in order
to protect 'the owners of proprietary economic information' such as
W R Grace, which owns the majority of neem patents?
The Espionage Act, in a world characterised by biopiracy,
carries the danger of transforming the everyday activities of
farmers and healers, students and researchers, scientists and
industrialists into crime and espionage.
What would happen if Third World countries used the same
logic, and declare all bio-prospectors and ethno-botanists working
for US corporations as engaged in 'economic espionage' and a threat
to 'national security'? - Third World Network Features
-ends-
About the writer: Vandana Shiva is a leading environmental
scientist in India and the author of Staying Alive and many other
books and articles on issues related to resources, the environment
and women.
When reproducing this feature, please credit Third World Network
Features and (if applicable) the cooperating magazine or agency
involved in the article, and give the byline. Please send us
cuttings.
1529/96
---forwarded mail END---
--- OffRoad 1.9s registered to Momodou Camara
------------------------------
Date: 06 Dec 1996 20:17:36 GMT
From: momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: AFRICA-CHINA: Taiwan Still Wins Friends Through DollarDiplomacy
Message-ID: <1113915390.183359162@inform-bbs.dk>
Forwarded by Momodou Camara.
---forwarded mail START---
Date: 06/12/96 20:54
Subject: Fwd: AFRICA-CHINA: Taiwan Still Wins Friends Through DollarDiplomacy
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Copyright 1996 Inter Press Service.
All rights reserved. Distribution via MISANET.
*** 05-Dec-96 ***
AFRICA-CHINA: Taiwan Still Wins Friends Through Dollar Diplomacy
Analysis by David Hecht
DAKAR, Dec 5 (IPS) - Taiwan lost the recognition this month of
one of Africa's most powerful nations, South Africa, but
it still has at least eight friends on the continent.
The South African government's announcment that it had
slipped into China's camp, and the fact that the United States
and China will exchange presidential visits over the next two
years, are two fresh blows to Taiwan's diplomatic dream.
Taiwan and mainland China are conducting a diplomatic war not
just about powers but numbers, in which the world's wea
k nations also count. They are likely to continue to play one
China off against the other, with both standing to gain mi
llions.
Many nations may think that China's claim to Taiwan is little
more than brute expansionism. Yet eager to increase the
ir exports, industrialised countries now recognise China and its
huge markets.
But for some 29 mostly impoverished countries in Africa and
Central America with few exports, Taiwan has something mo
re enticing than markets -- money.
Between 1990-95, Taiwan provided 400 million u.s. dollars in
official overseas development aid, not to mention milita
ry assistance, and technical co-operation to these countries.
China calls Taiwan's attempts to win recognition ''dollar
diplomacy'', while Taiwan says it just wants to be accepted
back into the United Nations.
Eight African countries do still recognise Taiwan, some
having only switched in recent months. Liberia is one that ma
intains relations with both Chinas, with the various rebel
factions each recognising one or the other.
In The Gambia, Captain Yahya Jammeh recognised Taiwan soon
after coming to power in a military coup in 1994. In excha
nge, he got funding for his tiny country's revolution, to the
tune of 30 million u.s. dollars, which is about a third of
his government's annual expenditure.
Ironically, while capitalist governments flirt with communist
China, revolutionary governments seek support from capi
talist Taiwan. Taiwan even funded Gambia's new July 22
revolutionary arch, which looks like a throwback from China's
cul
tural revolution.
In nearby Guinea Bissau, the once staunchly Marxist
government also recently switched from China to Taiwan, but only
after dropping most of its ideological rhetoric. And the
revolutionary military government in Burkina Faso also only mad
e the switch a few years ago after assassinating its charismatic
leader Captain Thomas Sankara.
Some African countries, trying to cut the best possible
deals, have switched sides several times. Earlier this year,
Senegal flipped back to Taiwan for the third time.
The move to Taiwan by Senegal and The Gambia came at a
particularly unfortunate time for China. It had invested heavi
ly in both countries, in each case donating giant sports
stadiums just before storming out.
But while Chinese diplomats all left, Chinese business has
quietly stayed.
China set up commercial construction companies which employ
mostly low paid Chinese workers and can often outbid Afri
can and Western companies. ''They may no longer have diplomatic
relations with us, but they are winning all the major pu
blic and private contracts,'' said an unemployed Senegalese
architect.
Also, China has developed its own form of ''dollar
diplomacy'' and it is effective, particularly with some of
Africa'
s pariah governments like Nigeria, Sudan and Zaire.
China is reported to have given a ''gift'' of 3.6 million
u.s. dollars to Zaire in September and offered 10 million u
s. dollars for a joint mining venture. In Sudan it also
announced an investment of 24 million u.s. dollars in gold mini
ng, despite the United Nations Security Council sanctions on the
Khartoum government.
Taiwan is certainly feeling China's pinch. This year, Niger
also went back to China after only four years with Taiwan
and, according to Andrew Yang of the Taipei-based Chinese
Centre for Advanced Policy Studies, Botswana and Swaziland, w
hich currently recognise Taiwan, may not do so for long,
implying that other African countries may also follow South Afr
ica's lead.
But not all analysts agree. Some even question whether
improved ties between Washington and Beijing automatically mea
n Taiwan's interests will be sacrificed. They say China's
president, Jiang Zemin, is so anxious to have a state visit wi
th President Bill Clinton to shore up his standing within the
Chinese Communist Party, that he will try to reduce confli
ct with Taiwan for fear of jeopardising the meetings.
Taiwanese officials like to point out that the number of
countries that recognise it has been growing. In 1971 when T
aiwan was first excluded from the United Nations, ''South Africa
was the only African country,''to recognise it, said He
in-Sheng Hsu, a senior Taiwianese official in the Senegalese
embassy.
''Yes we have now lost South Africa but there are plenty of
other African countries and we fully expect many to look
our way,'' he said.
Hsu said that while ''China has markets, Taiwan can show poor
countries how to create the exports for those markets,'
' pointing out that his country, not China, is what most
developing countries hope to emulate. ''Our technical assistanc
e is far more valuable than markets or money,'' he said.
When asked whether these poor countries may go back to China
once Taiwan helps them develop, he admitted that ''no ma
n knows what the future holds''.
The Gambia's young president visited Taiwan for the first
time this month. He pledged to strengthen bilateral ties be
tween the two countries while Taiwan's President, Lee Teng-hui,
announced further aid packages to the country.
President Jammeh, who said that American-style democracy is
not suited to African people, also said it is unfair for
Taiwan to be excluded from the United Nations because, unlike
China, it is ''a model democracy,'' and because it is so w
illing to assist developing nations build their economies.
Jammeh stressed that his country's friendship with Taiwan is
not based on money. ''Friendship comes from the bottom o
f the heart and not from the pocket. Friendship based on money
will be short-lived,'' he warned. (end/ips/dh/pm96)
****************************************************************
[c] 1996, Inter Press Seervice Third World News Agency
(IPS) All rights reserved
May not be reproduced, reprinted or posted to any system or
service outside of the MISANET without permission from IPS or
MISA. For MISA information, send a message to
dlush@ingrid.misa.org.na and for information about IPS, send a
message to Lynette Muringi-Matimba at ipshre@harare.iafrica.com
*****************************************************************
---forwarded mail END---
--- OffRoad 1.9s registered to Momodou Camara
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 17:25:35 -0500 (EST)
From: Haddijatou Kah <jkah@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu>
To: Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
Cc: "GAMBIA-L: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List" <gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: 96L06008.html
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.93.961206165841.19724A-100000@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Hi
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who wrote to
me I have been extremely busy ,hopefully that will change after the 19th .
Alhajie I am your close relation . I would like to get in touch with
Gibril because I will be in Atlanta during Christmas. Amadou I'll get in
touch with you when you come back from Banjul sorry I have not done so
before now but my course schedule is crazy, Itook too many
credits.Lastly please take me off the list until the 19th.december.My
apoligises to all subsribers for my using this medium to get my message
across to my to my friends and relatives . To all those going to our
motherland , safe journey , and good luck ,
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 18:57:52 -0800 (PST)
From: saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: They're Too Good; That's Not Fair !!
Message-ID: <9612070257.AA12990@leed.chem.ubc.ca>
Content-Type: text
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: FOR WHITES ONLY
By Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Staff, 11/20/96
Pity American runners. They say Africans keep them glued to "the
bottom of the bag." This summer, in a 10-mile race in Flint, Mich., Kenyans
won the top 12 men's and top three women's spots. In the Falmouth Road Race,
African men won the first 13 spots. In the Philadelphia half-marathon,
Kenyan men won the first five places and Kenyan women the first two.
Mexican, Italian and German runners have won recent New York and
Boston marathons. But Africans petrify many race organizers. American
marathoner Kim Jones suggests that of the runners who have their way paid to
races, one-third should be Kenyan, one-third American and one-third others.
Joe Henderson, West Coast editor of Runner's World magazine wrote,
``The role of Kenyans on the US race scene has grown too dominant.... Limit
the number of Kenyans. Give Americans, Canadians and others better chances
to earn prize money.... It would give the event what it needs in terms of
greater variety by limiting the depth from any one country.''
Humph. White folks voted to kill state affirmative action in
California. They have ended quotas for African-Americans and Latinos at
Boston Latin School. They have ended set-asides in many state and city
construction contracts. These white people, like the Texaco officials who
kept ``black jelly beans'' glued to the ``bottom of the bag,'' say variety
means black inferiority.
But when white folks are inferior runners, what do many of them
want? Diversity. Set-asides. Quotas. Affirmative action.
Under white affirmative action [there are few African-American
distance runners], non-American marathon winners at the New York Marathon
get $30,000. American winners get $100,000. At Falmouth, Kenyan Joseph Kamau
won $2,000 for third place. American Joe LeMay won $4,000 for 14th place.
In a New Haven run, Kamau won $2,500 for first place while LeMay won $4,650
for second. Next year, an American who breaks either the American men's or
women's marathon records on American soil can collect $1 million from New
Balance. Interestingly, he or she could collect even if he or she does not
win the race. Insultingly, a foreigner could set a world record, push an
American to merely the American record, and collect chump change.
``It bothers us'' that foreigners win, said New Balance CEO Jim
Davis. The Pittsburgh Marathon has an American-only prize structure. ``Some
people here don't relate [to foreigners] coming in, winning a check and
going home,'' said director Larry Grollman.
Humpf. Norway's Grete Waitz dominated New York and inspired all
women. No one moaned about New York victories by Italian men from 1984-86.
The Boston Marathon, bless its soul, does not give American bonuses and
popularizes Kenyan winners like Cosmas Ndeti. But increasingly, race
organizers think white fans cannot relate to Africans. They want a
long-distance Larry Bird.
They are very sore losers. The $18 billion we spend a year to
support pro and college sports, health centers and sports clubs exceeds the
combined gross national products of Kenya and Ethiopia. Bob Wood, an agent
and a chairman of USA Track and Field, said Americans need special
``opportunity to develop'' against ``the never-ending supply of Kenyans.''
But the 1996 Olympic marathon winner, Josia Thugwane of South Africa, lived
until recently in a shack in a town with no general electricity. Americans
spend $10 billion a year on sports attire, but 22 percent of American kids
are obese, and Massachusetts this week ended school requirements for
physical education. African children run miles to school. Kenyan girls race
barefooted. Boston Marathon legend Bill Rodgers said African runners are a
``determined people'' with ``burning individual pride.''
White attackers of affirmative action do not want merit, as claims
California Gov. Pete Wilson or Michael McLaughlin, who sued Boston Latin.
They want their economic and old-boy head starts while telling people of
color to compete for test scores out of bad schools and gain job experience
in hostile workplaces.
White affirmative action in running devalues African determination
and the pride of other foreigners who excel on our turf, rewards inferiority
and mocks merit. Don Kardong, president of the Road Runners Club of
America, said it sends the message ``that we cannot compete against the
best, that we need special preference.'' But even Kardong may give such
preferences in a race he directs in Spokane, Wash. While Texaco had to be
sued to unglue qualified ``black jelly beans'' from the bottom, road races
throw money at the feet of runners to help them leap out of the bag.
New York Marathon director Allan Steinfeld says he hopes his
$100,000 will inspire Americans ``to shoot for the grand prize.'' Humpf. If
a company gave grand bonuses to inspire employees just because they were
black, white folks would run 26.2 miles to the Supreme Court. It is one more
proof that America is not against affirmative action. It is against it only
for black people.
{This story ran on page a15 of the Boston Globe on 11/20/96.}
__
********************************************************************
** Madiba Saidy **
** Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory **
** University of British Columbia **
** Tel :- (604) 822-4540 (Lab.) Fax :- (604) 822-2847 (lab.) **
** (604) 228-2466 (home) (604) 228-2466 (home) **
** Email :- saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca / msaidy@unixg.ubc.ca **
********************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 15:09:48 GMT
From: harr njai <hfn194@soton.ac.uk>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: New Members
Message-ID: <ECS9612071548A@soton.ac.uk>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
hi fellow Gambians,
I must say i'm very pleased to be involved in this
discission group. I was very surpriced by the number of
members and thier intelligent discussions. I will mail in
something soon.
thanks
On Mon, 25 Nov 1996 01:32:02 -0800 Sarian Loum wrote:
> From: Sarian Loum <sarian@osmosys.incog.com>
> Date: Mon, 25 Nov 1996 01:32:02 -0800
> Subject: New Members
> To: "GAMBIA-L: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List"
<gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
>
> Hi,
>
> Ya Harr Njie & Dawada Ceesay have been added to the list
while Andy Lyons taken off. Ya Harr & Dawda please send in
your intros and welcome to Gambia-L.
>
> Sarian
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 07 Dec 96 15:29:49 GMT
From: mmjeng@image.dk (Matarr M. Jeng.)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu (The Gambia And Related Issues Mailing List)
Subject: Four Africans Join Race For Top U.N. Job
Message-ID: <M.120796.162949.39@ip72.image.dk>
Copyright 1996 Panafrican News Agency and Africa News
Service. All rights reserved.
Material may not be redistributed, posted to any other
location, published or used for broadcast without written
authorization from the Panafrican News Agency. B.P. 4056,
Dakar, Senegal.
Tel: (221) 24-13-95 | Fax: (221) 24-13-90 | E-mail:
quoiset@sonatel.senet.net
07 Dec 96 - United Nations-Candidates
Four Africans Join Race For Top U.N. Job
>From Segun Adeyemi ; PANA Staff Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, New York (PANA) - Four African candidates joined the race
Friday for the
post of United Nations secretary-general, following the decision by the
incumbent, Egypt's
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, to suspend his candidacy.
The candidates are Kofi Annan of Ghana, who heads the U.N. peacekeeping
department;
Amara Essy, Cote D'Ivoire's foreign minister; Hamid Algabid of Niger,
secretary-general of the
Islamic Conference and Ahmedou Ould Abdallah of Mauritania, a former U.N.
special envoy to
Burundi.
The President of the Security Council, Ambassador Francesco Fulci of Italy,
told U.N.
correspondents after the council's closed-door session that the candidates
names were
submitted by their countries as well as by the Organisation of African Unity,
O.A.U.
"The four ambassadors came together to signify African unity," he said.
Since there was the possibility of other African names being submitted, he
added, the council
decided to meet again Monday to decide when to begin the process of selecting a
candidate.
Sources close to the council, upon whose recommendation the 185-member General
Assembly
elects a secretary-general, listed other possible candidates as O.A.U.
Secretary-General Salim
Ahmed Salim of Tanzania; Wally N'dow of the Gambia, secretary-general of the
U.N. Centre for
Human Settlements and Moustapha Niasse, Senegal's foreign minister.
On Nov. 19, the United States vetoed Boutros-Ghali's second-term candidature,
blaming him for
inadequate reform of the world body.
Although Boutros-Ghali got the votes of the council's 14 other members, the
U.S. veto barred
him from nomination by the council but technically did not remove him from the
race.
The 15-member council has decided to give African candidates priority in the
selection process,
to give the continent a chance at a second mandate, as has been the practice
with those of
other regions.
Boutros-Ghali's decision Wednesday to suspend his candidature, despite being
endorsed as
Africa's candidate at the July O.A.U. summit, opened the way for other African
candidates to
come forward.
However Boutros-Ghali, 74, has said that he remains in the race. His term of
office expires Dec
31.
Two other Africans are among a list of nine candidates proposed by
non-governmental
organisations and individuals for the post.
They are retired Gen. Joseph Garba, a former Nigerian foreign minister and Paul
Adjandjagori of
Gabon.
However, these candidates are not being considered by the council because they
were not
backed by any member state, as required by U.N. guidelines for the selection
process.
AFRICA NEWS Home Page | AFRICA NEWS CENTRAL | The Nando Times
----
Matarr M. Jeng mmjeng@image.dk
OR
mmjeng@inform-bbs.dk
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 20:49:48 -0500 (EST)
From: ABDOU <at137@columbia.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Cc: "Camara, Momodou" <momodou.camara@post3.tele.dk>
Subject: house-keeping
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.95L.961207203936.19635F-100000@namaste.cc.columbia.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Hi folks,
I expect to travel to The Gambia for the Christmas vacation.
Momdou Camara has volunteered to serve as subscription manager to lighten
the load from LatJorr. Momodou's address is: momodou.camara@post3.tele.dk
I think it would be great if those of us who are going could meet
with the various newspaper editors and examine the possibility of having a
some kind of Gambian newspaper presence on the Internet.
Thanks and bye for now,
-Abdou.
*******************************************************************************
A. TOURAY.
at137@columbia.edu
abdou@cs.columbia.edu
abdou@touchscreen.com
(212) 749-7971
MY URL's ON THE WWW= http://www.cc.columbia.edu/~at137
http://www.psl.cs.columbia.edu/~abdou
A FINITE IN A LAND OF INFINITY.
SEEKING BUT THE REACHABLE.
I WANDER AND I WONDER.
ALL RESPITE IS FINAL.
*******************************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 18:04:10 -0800 (PST)
From: saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: What She really means !!!!
Message-ID: <9612080204.AA34266@leed.chem.ubc.ca>
Content-Type: text
When Women say things, they sometimes don't exactly mean them.
Sometimes you almost need a dictionary to understand them.
At long last... The Men's Guide to what a woman really means when she
says something. Pay close attention (there might be a quiz later).
*********************************************************************
You want = You want
We need = I want
It's your decision = The correct decision should be obvious by now.
Do what you want = You'll pay for this later.
We need to talk = I need to complain
Sure... go ahead = I don't want you to.
I'm not upset = Of course I'm upset, you moron!
You're ... so manly = You need a shave and you sweat a lot.
You're certainly attentive tonight. = Is sex all you ever think about?
I'm not emotional! And I'm not overreacting! = I'm on my period.
Be romantic, turn out the lights. = I have flabby thighs.
This kitchen is so inconvenient = I want a new house.
I want new curtains = and carpeting, and furniture, and wallpaper.....
I need wedding shoes = the other 40 pairs are the wrong shade of white.
Hang the picture there = NO, I mean hang it there!
I heard a noise = I noticed you were almost asleep.
Do you love me? = I'm going to ask for something expensive.
How much do you love me? = I did something today you're really not going to like.
I'll be ready in a minute. = Kick off your shoes and find a good game on T.V.
Is my butt fat? = Tell me I'm beautiful.
You have to learn to communicate. = Just agree with me.
Are you listening to me!? = [Too late, you're dead.]
Yes = No
No = No
Maybe = No
I'm sorry. = You'll be sorry.
Do you like this recipe? = It's easy to fix, so you'd better get used to it.
Was that the baby? = Why don't you get out of bed and walk him until he goes to sleep.
I'm not yelling! = Yes I am yelling because I think this is important.
All we're going to buy is a soap dish = It goes without saying that we're stopping at the cosmetics department, the shoe department, I need to look at a few new pocket books, and OMIGOD those pink sheets would look great in the bedroom and did you bring your checkbook?
(THE ANSWER TO "WHAT'S WRONG?")
The same old thing = Nothing
Nothing = Everything
Everything = My PMS is acting up
Nothing, really = It's just that you're such an *******
I don't want to talk about it = Go away, I'm still building up steam
__
********************************************************************
** Madiba Saidy **
** Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory **
** University of British Columbia **
** Tel :- (604) 822-4540 (Lab.) Fax :- (604) 822-2847 (lab.) **
** (604) 228-2466 (home) (604) 228-2466 (home) **
** Email :- saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca / msaidy@unixg.ubc.ca **
********************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 18:32:54 -0800 (PST)
From: saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca (Madiba Saidy)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Women's Hazardous Materials Sheet
Message-ID: <9612080232.AA02902@leed.chem.ubc.ca>
Content-Type: text
As you may know, in many companies and laboratories, hazardous
materials information sheets are required to keep workers informed
about the materials they are working with. Now they are available for
the home.
**********************************************************************
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS INFORMATION SHEET
ELEMENT: Women
SYMBOL: Wo
DISCOVERER: Adam
ATOMIC MASS: Accepted at 53.6kg, but known to vary from 40-200kg
OCCURRENCES: Copious quantities in all urban areas
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES:
Surface usually covered in painted film
Boils at nothing; freezes w/o known reason
Melts if given special treatment
Bitter if incorrectly used
Found in various states from virgin metal to common ore
Yields if pressure applied in correct places
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES:
Has great affinity for gold, silver, and a range of precious stones
Absorbs great quantities of expensive substances
May explode spontaneously w/o prior warning and for no apparent reason
Most powerful money reducing agent known to man (Oh really!!!!)
COMMON USES:
Highly ornamental, especially in sports cars
Can be a great aid to relaxation
Very effective cleaning agent
TESTS:
Pure specimen turns rosy pink when discovered in the natural state
Turns green when placed beside a betta specimen
HAZARDS:
Highly dangerous except in experienced hands
Illegal to possess more than one, although several can be maintained
at different locations as long as specimens do not come into direct
contact with each other (doesn't apply for most Gambians!! Oh yah!!)
__
********************************************************************
** Madiba Saidy **
** Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory **
** University of British Columbia **
** Tel :- (604) 822-4540 (Lab.) Fax :- (604) 822-2847 (lab.) **
** (604) 228-2466 (home) (604) 228-2466 (home) **
** Email :- saidy@leed.chem.ubc.ca / msaidy@unixg.ubc.ca **
********************************************************************
------------------------------
End of GAMBIA-L Digest 45
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gambia-l: LOG9612B - Digest 45
